Shroud of Darkness 1: Sera
by Hitotsune-Kozo
Summary: Takes place after 'Trouble in Tokyo.' After Raven accidentally confesses her feelings for Starfire to her, she takes off to be alone. When she runs into a demon from another plane of existence, things look bad for her - until an angel shows up and saves her. Who is she? Why are demons attacking? Raven/OC. Rated M.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** Teen Titans and all associated characters and places are the property of DC. The character of Sera is my OC. Rated M.

**A/N:** This story – and, hopefully, series – will probably be darker than my Titans Forever series. Though admittedly TF had its dark moments. The Shroud of Darkness series, on the other hand, is going (like I said) to more than likely be darker overall. However it becomes (or turns out), I hope y'all will like it. Oh, and I am sorry if this story offends anyone.

**Shroud of Darkness** **Book 1: Sera** **Chapter 1: I Saw an Angel**

Raven hated them. She was surprised by that, but couldn't deny the fact. Couldn't deny it because she'd visited her mind after a minor overreaction that no one else had, fortunately, noticed. There, she'd ran into the emotion. She'd expected to come across Envy, Jealousy, or even Anger. But it was Hate she'd encountered; the emotion was a darker red than Anger, with the bright green of Envy and the purplish-pink of Jealousy thrown in as well. It wasn't as though all three emotions had become one, for she still ran into them, it was that Hate involved all of those – and, when she became aware of it, Love. But there was no hint of Love's pink in Hate, and when she'd sought out the emotion she had been surprise to learn that Love thoroughly approved of Hate. She said Hate couldn't find her own color, and so adapted the colors of the other three to her tastes.

"When did she come?" Raven had asked, peeling the pink clad emotion off of herself.

"_After that trouble in Tokyo, after Robin and Starfire finally got together,"_ Love had replied. And just then, Hate had showed up.

"Just why are you here?" she'd asked the emotion.

"_Because you hate,"_ had been the snarled reply.

"But who do I hate?"

"_It should be obvious, but I'll go ahead and say it: you hate Robin for taking Starfire from you, and you hate Starfire for choosing _him_ over_ you_, despite the fact that you're better than he is! You hate them _both_ for being happy and together while you're still alone, and you hate _yourself_ because you never told Starfire how you felt about her."_

She'd acknowledged the truth of her emotion's words, since they _were_ true, and had left her mind.

But afterwards, she wished she hadn't learned the truth of the feelings that always sent her from the room whenever Robin and Starfire started being 'lovey-dovey.' They were her friends, and she _did_ want them to be happy; she just wished that it was _her_ instead of _him_ that made Starfire happy. After seeing them stare at each other in that love struck manner they had for ten minutes without doing anything, she'd quietly closed her book and teleported out of the room. Her first stop was her room to drop off her book, then she teleported up to the tower's roof to meditate.

She didn't know how long she'd been out there meditating, but when Starfire called out her name she snapped her eyes open and saw that the sun was setting.

"Raven?" she asked. "Are you okay?

"I'm fine, Starfire," she said, turning around to look at the alien princess.

"No one has seen you for many hours, and everyone was doing the wondering of where you were."

"I was meditating," she replied, keeping her surprise at how much time had passed hidden. She heard the edge in her tone and inwardly winced, knowing that the ever-perceptive Tamaranian would notice it.

"Friend Raven, is something the matter?"

"Starfire . . . it doesn't matter, okay? I'll deal with it."

"Why do you not wish to do the talking? Are we not friends?"

"Of course we're friends, Star. But this isn't something you can help with. Not without hurting someone else." She hadn't meant to say that last part out loud.

"What do you mean? Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you?"

"You did," Raven said quietly. "You hurt me."

"Raven . . . I know my knowledge of Earth customs and words still is not of the perfection, but I still do not understand what you mean. I am your friend, and I would never wish to hurt you."

"It's not your fault, Starfire," she replied. "Considering how close I keep myself, even after everything we've been through, it's no surprise that you never noticed."

"Noticed what?"

_It's too late now_, Raven thought, referring to both the situation she was in and the fact that she really didn't want to tell her. Sighing, she said, "I love you, Starfire." Looking at the other girl, she saw her surprised and startled expression. "I never noticed how I felt until after the incident with Terra, but it wasn't until after I defeated my father that I realized just _how much_ I loved you." Another sigh escaped her. "After all of that, whenever I saw the way you and Robin acted around each other, I deluded myself into thinking that you were just trying to understand human customs. I thought that, one day, you would see _me_, see what I didn't know how to express. Then Tokyo happened and I lost my chance forever." She snorted, though it was more of a sniff. "I never really had a chance at all, though."

"Raven," Starfire said, stunned by her friend's words and honesty. "Why did you not say something of this before?"

"Because it wouldn't have made a difference, okay?" There was an edge in her voice again.

"We could have-"

"Could have what?" she demanded. "Explored things with each other? Experimented in some way? I don't know how things like this are done on Tamaran, but that isn't what you do here. You would have tried it just to try it, to learn what it's like. You love Robin; you always have." She knew she sounded angry, knew that she was probably hurting Starfire's feelings, but she couldn't stop. Not because she wanted to hurt the other girl like she'd been hurt (since it really _was_ her own fault), but because she wanted to explain herself, to tell the truth of it all. "You and Robin love each other like I loved you. I wouldn't have been able to have such a 'casual' relationship with you. Because I would have wanted to share myself with you, completely and totally, and . . . and I would have been devastated when you chose Robin. I know that there are humans in this world who are that casual, who have no problem sharing their bodies so easily, but I'm not one of them. Even if I'd you how I felt from the moment I realized it, it wouldn't have changed things between us. I'm sorry if I've hurt you, Starfire; like you, I would never want to hurt my friends." She stopped levitating and stood up. "I'm sorry, Starfire. I can't be here right now. I won't leave everyone, but I need to be by myself for a while. I'll come back tomorrow." Then the gray-skinned Titan turned and flew off, leaving a sad and hurt Starfire behind.

Raven knew that she'd been unfair to Starfire, at least in her tone and the way she'd said what she had said. She hadn't meant to say anything at all, but once that first crack had been made in the façade she'd worn it had been inevitable for all of it to come spilling out. Sitting on the roof of a skyscraper, she wondered how things would change between her and her friends. Because she _knew_, with absolute certainty, that things would change. She'd been too good at keeping that secret hidden. Robin would be the hardest to deal with, since he'd had a thing for Starfire from the beginning of the Teen Titans. Starfire would keep a secret if asked, and if it wouldn't hurt anyone, but she hadn't asked her to keep it a secret. And Raven knew she would have told Robin anyway, because she loved him, and then he would have questioned Beast Boy and Cyborg to see if they knew anything about it. She knew that Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy wouldn't hold it against her, would know that she wouldn't do anything to break them up. But Robin tended to overreact a lot. He overreacted when Cyborg and Beast Boy teased him about liking Starfire, and that had played a role in the situation that followed. He overreacted with Slade, too, creating the Red X persona in order to try to take the villain down from the inside.

_He tries to be like Batman too much_, she thought, looking down past her dangling legs to the ground far below. _As much as he protests about being in his shadow, about wanting to break away and be his own hero, he still tries to be like him. He forgets about his mentor's origins, forgets that he's still just a kid right now._ She let a heavy sigh fall out of her. _He's going to give me hell when I get back. Yelling at me about confessing my feelings to Starfire after they'd finally gotten together. He won't listen to the fact that _she_ asked _me_ about it all. He won't listen to the fact that I know I don't have a chance with her, that I never did. And he won't listen when I tell him I won't come between them. And he won't realize that he's being a bully about it. Not until he's had his say and given his punishment._ She snorted. _Never mind that, now, I would barely have to think to squeeze him out of existence if I wanted to._ And that of course brought her train of thought to her now-destroyed father. She didn't know anything about the pantheon of demons he'd belonged to, thanks to being raised by the monks of Azarath. She'd destroyed him, ripped him from this plane of existence with only a little effort. It had been quite a while since that event, since she'd fulfilled her destiny of being his gateway into the material plane – then turning around and being the reason for his departure. She had no idea if there'd be repercussions from that, because it would be beyond foolish to believe Trigon had been the only demonic entity in existence.

Just then, she saw a flash of light out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she saw a fading red glow from downtown. _That can't be good_, she thought, before dropping off the roof and soaring over to investigate and deal with the situation.

Starfire _had_ told everyone what had occurred between her and Raven on the roof. Robin was stunned at first, as were the other two boys, but it didn't take long at all for him to become angry.

"She had no right to say any of that!" he growled.

"Robin, do not be angry at Raven for this," Starfire pleaded. "I do not think she wanted to tell me her deepest feelings, but I was being the persistant and kept asking her."

"Yo, man, just calm down," Cyborg said, standing up. "You're blowing this way out of proportion."

"You _did_ hear what Starfire said, right? Right?"

"Dude, we _all_ heard it," Beast Boy put in. "But he's right. You're making this more than it is."

"She just told Starfire she _loved_ her! Knowing that Starfire and _I_ are together!"

"_Loved_, Robin, not _love_," Cyborg reminded him. He wasn't phased when the shorter Titan turned his glare on him. "Raven may have hidden just how _much_ she cared about Starfire all this time, but you know her, man. Raven's honest to the point of being blunt. Just imagine how hard it's been for her since you and Star became official." Cyborg's calm, measured delivery actually made it through the heat of Robin's anger and he began thinking again, rather than just reacting. And he realized his friend was right. Raven had a hard time lying because it was in her nature to be honest. The more he thought about it, the more he came to see Raven's side of the situation. Knowing Raven as he did, as they all did, she wouldn't have wanted to consider that she could fall in love like that. Love was an unpredictable emotion, as he shamefully realized, and Raven needed to control her emotions in order to control her powers – and to prevent herself from giving in to her demonic heritage. Even now, some time after she'd defeated her father and became able to forge her own destiny, she still struggled with her demonic blood.

But before he could say anything, even if it was the wrong thing, the battle alert sounded throughout the tower.

When she arrived at the scene of the distrubance, she was dismayed to find that the area where she'd seen the light at was empty. Except for the destruction left in the wake of whatever was there. Looking around, she could see that whatever had arrived had apparently walked out of thin air. To her left, the street was untouched, as were the buildings and cars that way. To her right, though, there was a path of destruction: cars were burning wreckage, buildings looked as though a glass-filled tornado had come through, and – worst of all – there were bodies. Mangled, torn, shredded, gutted bodies. She couldn't help it, once she saw the extent of the devastation: she threw up. A gut wrenching, doubling over upheaval of stomach contents that left her on her knees, gasping for breath. When she had recovered enough to stand, she averted her gaze and followed the trail of death and destruction.

And when she turned around a corner, she wished she hadn't.

It was a demon. That much was obvious from the long, spade-ended tail, massive bat-like wings, horned head, and double-hinged legs (they looked almost like the legs from that space warrior game Cyborg and Beast Boy liked to play, something about a futuristic super soldier fighting against an alliance of aliens). Also, it stood over seven feet tall and had just ripped the arm off of someone.

"Hey!" she shouted, getting its attention. She knew she was too late to save its current victim, but she could stop it from getting more. Its free hand snapped up and a ball of red/black energy gathered in its palm before launching at her. She instinctively crossed her hands in front of her and summoned up a barrier that the blast slammed into. The kinetic force from it knocked her backwards, but she stayed on her feet. The demon was staring at her in surprise, though. Then he sniffed the air towards her, and its horribly beautiful features screwed up in an expression of distaste.

"Half-breed," it hissed in a guttural snarl.

"You speak English?" she asked, surprise getting the best of her.

"Your primitive tongue is far too easy to master," it hissed. "I did not know one such as you had been allowed to survive birth. Whoever sired you and left you to live shall die when his travesty is learned."

"I took care of my father myself," she snapped.

"That saves me some trouble." He sniffed again. "Your aura is strong indeed. You'll make a better meal than these pathetic animals." Dropping the person he was holding, the demon launched himself at her with surprising speed. Raven sank into a portal she'd summoned underneath herself, then reappeared where the demon had been standing. She fired off a blast of her own energy, knocking the horrendous creature off its feet. When it stood up and turned to face her, she shuddered at the cruel grin on its face.

"Powerful, powerful," he said, nodding. "You'll increase my power greatly once I ingest you." She didn't have as much of a chance to react this time, even though she knew he'd be attacking. He threw another blast of energy at her, and she chose to dodge this time rather than raise a shield – though the shield would have saved her from the clawed hand that wrapped around her somewhat small waist and slammed her into the building nearest her. She cried out from the agony of the wall hitting her back hard, and also from the pressure of his grip.

"But you're not too smart, though," he said, smiling at her large enough to reveal his long and pointed teeth. She tried to raise a shield, a barrier, something, but the pain was making it too hard to concentrate. His mouth opened wider and wider, his jaws dislocating to swallow her head whole. Then he stopped. Literally staring into the jaws of death, Raven didn't know what was going on.

Then a bright white light filled the sky above them.

They both instinctively looked up and saw an unbearably white light in the sky. It wasn't the sun, Raven knew, for the sun was yellow – and it was well after sunset. She sensed a change in the demon's unfamiliar emotional state, and realized that he recognized what the light signified.

And right then the white sphere dropped from the sky and slammed into the ground less than twenty feet away.

The shockwave and blast from the impact threw both her and the demon back, and served to free her from its grip. She cried out when she slammed into a parked car, the force of her impact denting its bumper badly and popping the hood clean off. She was hurt, bad, but she could tell it wasn't fatal. Yet. Clearing her eyes, she turned her pain-filled gaze back down the street – and saw a sight that made her jaw drop. Kneeling in the crater was what she could only describe as an angel. When it stood up, the slenderness of its figure left no doubt that it was female – that, and the slight widening at the hips. She wore a mid-riff baring long-sleeve that also left her shoulders bare, and a pair of pants that came down to mid-calf. Her shoes only went a little higher than her ankles, and everything was white with blue accents – even her hair. Her vibrant eyes were the color of pure metallic gold, and showed with an inner light that literally made them glow. Just like with the demon, Raven couldn't take her eyes off of the angel – though it was for a much different reason.

"Drashkyr," she said in a voice that was as light and pure as her appearance.

"Sera," the demon growled, coming to his feet. Raven managed to tear her gaze off of the entrancing sight of the angel – Sera – to see the demon pull a massive, evil-looking double-bladed axe out of thin air.

"You are being called to accountability, Drashkyr," Sera told him.

"One lone angel cannot hope to stop me," Drashkyr growled in reply.

"Do not underestimate me, demon," she said. "Arrogance will be your downfall. Now come with me."

With a roar of anger and rage, the demon charged the unarmed angel, his terrible axe swinging high to deliver a blow that would surely cleave the slender woman in two. Raven didn't bother to shout out a warning, as she knew that the angel could see the attack coming. She _did_ try to focus past her pain, to erect a shield around her, but it was even more difficult to do now. And it was with a terrible sinking pain that she watched the axe start its decent while the angel raised up hers, palms out.

And the axe slammed into the space between her hands – stopping as though it had hit something. To Raven's amazement, a blue-and-white glow shimmered around where the axe's blade was stopped. And then the glow lengthened and elongated until it was a good three feet beyond either side of her hands. Then it solidified into a white staff with glowing blue ends. Before the stunned demon could react, Sera had whipped the staff down, spun around, and slammed into Dashkyr's midsection. There was a flash of light, then the demon was hurtled past the fallen Titan with tremendous speed. She turned her gaze back to the angel, only to find her standing over her.

"I would ask if you're hurt," she said, bending her knees to crouch, "but that's a question with a rather obvious answer." She frowned. "It isn't good, either." She reached out and placed a hand on Raven's forehead. Her face registered immense surprise. "You're half demon."

"Um, yeah, sorry," Raven mumbled, making the angel chuckle.

"There's no need to apologize," she said. "I can an also sense that you've got a good heart and an honorable spirit." There was a loud roar, followed by an explosion of some kind. "I'll be right back." Standing up again, Sera winked at her – then unfurled a pair of large white wings mottled with tan. Smiling at Raven's shocked expression, she flapped her wings to rise up into the air before shooting down the street past her. The gray-skinned Titan was too weak, too in pain to move, so all she could do was listen to the sounds of battle. It wasn't long, though, before she heard a pained bellow that turned into a high-pitched scream that was followed by an unnerving silence. Before she could react, a shadow dropped over her. She jerked in surprise, then cried out as pain shot through her battered body.

"I told you I'd be back," Sera said, kneeling down next to her. She blinked, then smiled. Raven was a little confused by that smile.

"What?" she asked.

"You're pretty cute for someone of this plane," the angel said, her grin getting bigger. Raven's blush didn't help the matter any. "Now, let's see about healing you."

"You can do that?" she blurted out, blushing in embarrassment.

"Well, yeah," was the matter-of-fact reply. And it was followed by another grin. "And I think I know how to go about doing it."

"How?" Raven asked. Her answer was a pair of beautiful, pale hands cupping her face – and a pair of pale red lips pressing against her own. Her eyes widened as her mind caught up with what was going on, but she didn't struggle against it; instead, she shocked herself by returning the kiss. Her eyes closed as she gave herself to the kiss. She saw a flash of light through her eyelids at the same time the pressure on her lips disappeared. Opening her eyes, she saw that Sera was gone – and she was no longer in pain.

And right just then, the rest of the Titans showed up.

"Raven!" Robin said when he caught sight of her. Gone were all thoughts about dressing her down for what she'd told Starfire. All that was in his voice was concern. She managed to get unsteadily to her feet as her friends reached.

"Raven, are you okay?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah, what happened here?" Beast Boy put in.

"I . . . I . . ." Raven tried to say, feeling lightheaded. "I saw an . . . angel." Then she passed out.

**E/N:** I know I wrote this, but I was _still_ on the edge of my seat, wondering what was going to happen next. Let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** Teen Titans and all associated characters and places are the property of DC. The character of Sera is my OC. Rated M.

**A/N:** This story – and, hopefully, series – will probably be darker than my Titans Forever series. Though admittedly TF had its dark moments. The Shroud of Darkness series, on the other hand, is going (like I said) to more than likely be darker overall. However it becomes (or turns out), I hope y'all will like it. Oh, and I am sorry if this story offends anyone.

**Shroud of Darkness** **Book 1: Sera**

**Chapter 2: An Angel's Feather**

_Raven found herself on a windswept cliff with no knowledge of how she got there. She knew she should be concerned about that, but couldn't bring herself to care. She didn't know where she was, and that didn't bother her, either._

**Not many can find their way here unaided.**

_Turning around, she saw no one. Hello? she called out, then realized that she made not a sound, though she 'heard' the words._

**You are not alone.**

_Where are you? she asked, walking away from the cliff's edge towards the trees that were now there._

**I am with you.**

_But where? she cried out, looking around. She sensed a gentle chuckle._

**It is not with your eyes that you need to be looking.**

_But I don't understand_

**True sight lies within. Do you wish to find me?**

_Yes!_

**Why?**

_She found she couldn't answer that question, and she felt saddened by that. Almost immediately, a gentle breeze sprang up and caressed her cheek, as though comforting her._

**Feel no sorrow. Why is often the hardest question to answer, though the easiest to speak.**

_Can't you tell me? she pleaded._

**It is not something that I can tell you, as you are the one seeking. Your time here draws short.**

_Can . . . can I come back?_

**When you know why you want to, you know the way. Fear not, for I shall be with you always.**

_Raven felt the world around her fade away and into blackness._

"Will she be alright?" Robin asked as Cyborg made some adjustments to the equipment in the infirmary.

"She's perfectly fine right now," he replied.

"Then why all this?" the team leader questioned, gesturing the medical equipment.

"Dude, you saw what was there, right? All of that destruction and death? I know for sure that Raven wasn't responsible for it, though she must have been involved in some way. There was an imprint about the right size for her in a concrete wall, and then the dent in that car she was 'reclining' against matched her, too. And yet there isn't a sign of any internal injuries. Hell, dude, there isn't even a _scratch_ on her anywhere."

"She could have put a barrier or a shield," Robin offered, but the other teen was shaking his head.

"If she had, it wouldn't have left that kind of impression in that wall, and the front end of that car would've been smashed flat rather than indented like that." They were interrupted by a groan from Raven. Looking over, they saw that she was waking up.

"Easy now, Rae," Cyborg said, coming around to her side. "Just take it easy."

She groggily opened her eyes and saw that she was back in the tower.

"Is it tomorrow already?" she groaned, trying to sit up.

"As a matter of fact, it is," Robin told her. She became a bit more alert at the sound of his voice. "Hey, Cyborg? Can you give us a minute?"

"Just take it easy, man," he warned.

"I was planning to," he agreed, then waited until the taller guy was out of the room before turning back to Raven.

"Listen," she said, guessing what he wanted to talk about, "if this is about Starfire-"

"It is," he interrupted, "but I don't want you to worry about it." He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at his gloved hands. "I overreacted when Starfire told us what you'd said, and I was . . . well, I _did_ fly off the handle. She told us, word for word, what you had told her, since she was having trouble telling us her own way." He looked over at her. "Not one of us knew how much you cared about her, you know."

"I didn't advertise it," Raven replied. "Mosly because I was afraid of my feelings and unsure how all of you – especially her – would react."

"We all talked about it after we'd brought you back to the tower," he went on, acknowledging her words with a nod. "Neither Starfire nor I realized how much we were hurting you with our . . . our displays of affection. It should have been obvious something was going on whenever you left the room as abruptly as you did. I'm sorry, Raven. I guess I'm not much a friend, huh?"

"Robin, listen," she said. "Starfire _does_ love you. _Truly_ love you. I sense that about her every time she sees you. I didn't mean to blow up at her like I did. I tried to keep it down, to not think about it, but I guess all that did was work like a pressure cooker." She sighed. "You've got some admirable restraint."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, judging by your emotional state, you're not only relieved that you managed not to bungle this conversation but you're also very eager to learn what happened downtown."

"I thought you could only sense emotions."

"I can. But the reasons behind _your_ emotions aren't hard to figure out," she pointed out. "And it was a demon."

"A demon?" he echoed. "Like your father?"

"My father wanted to return to this dimension to conquer and rule it," she remineded him. "This demon was different than him; he just wanted to kill and feast."

"Feast?"

"Yeah. He . . . he _ate_ the people he killed. Or at least, he ate _pieces_ of them."

"So where'd he go? You were the only one we saw there when we finally arrived."

"I don't know where he went," she admitted. "I didn't see the end of their fight."

" 'Their fight?' What do you mean, 'their fight?'"

"Well, the demon slammed me into a wall after I'd dodged some kind of . . . well, I guess you could call it a 'hell blast' and was about to bite my head off – literally, if you want to know – when this . . . this . . . _angel_ showed up."

"An angel? A real 'wrath from Heaven' angel?"

"I don't think she was _that_ kind of angel, but she was certainly an angel."

"So what happened?"

"Well, when she landed, the blast wave from the impact knocked the demon down the street, and me into a car."

"That explains a lot, then."

"Yeah," she agreed, smiling. "She and the demon talked, then he charged her with an axe he'd pulled from nowhere. It should have split her down the middle, but she raised up her hands and it stopped. Then a staff appeared in her hands beneath the axe blade. She spun around and slammed the staff into the demon's gut – and blasted him down past the next block, I guess. I could barely move, I was in so much pain."

"Go on," Robin urged gently.

"She came to check on me for a moment, then she left to finish off the demon, I guess," Raven replied. "When she came back, she k-healed me."

"She did what?"

_Now_ Robin was certain she was blushing. Raven looked down at her hands and mumbled something.

"What?" he asked, not hearing her.

"She kissed me," she repeated, loud enough to be heard. "She kissed me and . . . it healed me."

"_There's no need to apologize," she said. "I can an also sense that you've got a good heart and an honorable spirit." There was a loud roar, followed by an explosion of some kind. "I'll be right back." Standing up again, Sera winked at her – then unfurled a pair of large white wings mottled with tan. Smiling at Raven's shocked expression, she flapped her wings to rise up into the air before shooting down the street past her. As she arrowed down the street, Sera saw Dashkyr rushing at her as well. Slamming her staff into the ground, she catapulted high into the air. He angled up to come at her, but his momentum was too great and he shot by beneath/behind her; or he would have, if she hadn't pinwheeled around and slammed her staff across his back seven times. The force of the blows knocked him out of the sky and into the street below. Arching down, she followed him and flared to a landing on him – without slowing herself down. The force of _her_ impact on him knocked them even deeper into the ground. But not once did the demon cry out. _Time to change that_, she thought. Vanishing her staff, she placed both of her hands on the demon's chest. He opened his mouth to roar, but it turned into a pain-filled bellow as the energy she began generating started to burn his body. Concentrating, she forced more energy out and _into_ him, and the bellow turned into a high-pitched shriek tha ended when she melted into his chest – and unleashed the built up energy. It was like a bomb of light went off. When the flash faded, she was kneeling at the bottom of a ten-foot-deep crater. Without hesitation, she flew her way back to the injured woman._

_She watched the girl jerk in surprise as her shadow fell over her. "I told you I'd be back," Sera said, kneeling down next to her. She blinked, then smiled. Raven was a little confused by that smile._

"_What?" she asked._

"_You're pretty cute for someone of this plane," the angel said, her grin getting bigger. Raven's blush didn't help the matter any. "Now, let's see about healing you."_

"_You can do that?" she blurted out, blushing in embarrassment._

"_Well, yeah," was the matter-of-fact reply. And it was followed by another grin. "And I think I know how to go about doing it."_

"_How?" Raven asked. Her answer was a pair of beautiful, pale hands cupping her face – and a pair of pale red lips pressing against her own. Never before had Sera done this. Healing her could have been done in the same manner that she'd annihilated Dashkyr with – only the application of energy was different. But Sera was drawn to this mortal woman in some way. It was actually _her_ life energy that had led her to the demon. Closing her eyes, put healing energy into the gray-skinned woman – and felt something _else_ leave with it. She flashed herself back home, knowing that, somehow, she just transferred a bit of her life essence to the young woman._

Sera stared at the misty images hovering in the middle of the council chamber as they faded away. Her battle on the material plane had just been viewed by the Council of Seven – along with the emotional context involved.

"Really, Sera," said Archguardian Taln. "Did you _have_ to annihilate him?"

"He caused the death of innocents," she replied.

"He's a _demon_, Sera," responded Archguardian Nont. "They always cause the deaths of innocents. His body count did not warrant full annihilation."

"Even one death would have warranted such a sentence," she argued.

"Are you sure it wasn't to punish him for harming that mortal?" Archguardian Pyra asked. "We all sensed the emotions you felt upon seeing her. And you have admitted that it was _her_ life energy that drew you to that plane."

"I will not deny the charges," she replied, standing proud and strong.

"And you shall not be punished for your actions," the Grand Archguardian said, leaning forward from his seat.

"All honor to you, Grand Archguardian," Nont responded, bowing, "but-"

"No more words," the ancient one said quietly. No on gainsayed him. "Sera is a Sword of Retribution. When she is called, she does as is warranted. Her judgement in such instances, though they have become rare in that dimension, is not to be questioned. None have the felt a call from their for millenia. I fear this means that the war is moving into a new phase."

"There must be something done about her actions," Nont argued.

"No Sword has been summoned since she was but a mere wardling," the Grand Archguardian said in a tone of finality. "She will not be punished, but shall instead be honored."

"Your decision shall stand, my lord," Archguardian Pyra responded; after all, she _was_ the leader of the Swords of Retribution. "Might I give her the honor?"

"You know my will in this matter, Master Sword," the ancient replied, confirming his intended honor.

"Sword Sera," Pyra said to her. "You are the first Sword of Retribution to be called to the material plane in too long. No honor we possess could equal the honor you have brought to us. As that is so, there is only one thing we can do. You were called by that mortal, however it occurred, and you gave her a small element of your own life energy as you healed her – in a rather unique manner, I might add. Thus, you shall be assigned to her as her protector. No longer are you a Sword of Retribution." Pyra looked over at her colleague, Archguardian Taln. The man nodded his approval of the coming words. "Sera, you are now a Guardian of Light."

Raven was alone in her room, laying upon her bed and staring at the ceiling. Robin had surprised her with the maturity he'd displayed concerning her words to Starfire yesterday, but the truth was that now she hardly cared anymore. What she'd said to Starfire, her feelings about the alien princess, no longer mattered to her. She still loved Starfire, still cared about her, but not like she once had. She didn't know what had changed, but she suspected it had something to do with that angel, Sera. And as though thinking of her made it so, there was a blinding flash of light. Sitting upright on her bed, she blinked her eyes to clear her vision – and felt her jaw drop at the vision before her.

"Nice place," Sera said, looking around. "Rather dark, though it suits you completely."

"What are you doing here?" she asked, bewildered.

"Is now a bad time?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Don't worry about anything," the angel said, walking over and sitting down. "I'm not going to be staying long." For some reason, those words made Raven sad. "I'll be around, though. I can't explain it to you without breaking some rather important rules, but I've been assigned to you."

"Assigned to me?"

"Yeah. You, or something within you, called to me yesterday and drew me into your plane. It's not uncommon for us to come here; but it's rare that we are _called_ here."

"We?"

"Yeah. Anyways, I'm your protector now, should you need me."

"My protector?" Raven's tone indicated surprise, not resentment. "You mean . . . you're going to be my . . . my guardian angel or something?"

"Something like that, yeah," Sera replied, smiling.

"Is that all you're going to do? Protect me when something like that attacks me again?"

"If you need me for any reason, I'll be there for you."

"Anything?"

"Yeah. Slaying demons, getting ice cream, a shoulder to lean on, whatever."

"Getting ice cream?" the half-demon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Mmm, I just _love_ decadent chocolate fudge," the angel moaned. She looked at Raven's surprised expression. "What? I'm an angel, not a saint."

"So how am I supposed to 'call' you or whatever word you use?"

"Well, you'll need something important of mine," Sera said. Then she held out her hand. In it was a small feather. Small, that is, compared to the ones Raven had seen in her wings the day before.

"What is this?" she asked, sensing that she had been given a great honor.

"It's the first feather I ever lost," was the quiet reply. "It means the most to me."

"Wow," was all she could say. "Thank you."

"No, Raven, thank _you_." There was another flash of light, and then she was gone. The only proof that Raven hadn't imagined the whole encounter was the four-inch feather in her hand.

**E/N:** And here's the second chapter that y'all begged for. Okay, it's not somewhat dark like the last chapter was, but I'm just setting the stage here. There's worse (and better) still to come.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** Teen Titans and all associated characters and places are the property of DC. The characters of Sera and Ares are my OCs. Rated M.

**A/N:** This story – and, hopefully, series – will probably be darker than my Titans Forever series. Though admittedly TF had its dark moments. The Shroud of Darkness series, on the other hand, is going (like I said) to more than likely be darker overall. However it becomes (or turns out), I hope y'all will like it. Oh, and I am sorry if this story offends anyone.

**Shroud of Darkness** **Book 1: Sera** **Chapter 3: Demons and Ice Cream**

Raven didn't let the others know about Sera's visit; after all, they were still getting used to what she'd just told them. It wasn't the idea of demons that threw them – _she_ was a half-demon, after all, _and_ they'd fought against her father – but the idea of _different_ demons fighting against angels. The whole good guy/bad guy thing was easy to figure out – angels good, demons bad – but what it all meant was something they couldn't figure out.

And then there was the whole personal drama issue to sort out. In spite of Robin's words, and Raven's assurances that she was over Starfire, there was still a level of tension in the tower. Starfire, for her part, tried to help ease the tension by reassuring Robin that Raven was a sister to her and not a romantic interest, but that only helped a little. This led to Raven spending more time in her room or on the roof, or even away from Titan Tower period. There wasn't another 'demon attack,' fortunately, though if there had been it had either been taken care of before it got out of hand or it wasn't anywhere near them. Doctor Light made an appearance, trying to steal money so he could purchase the components he needed to build another power amplifying device, but the moment he saw Raven he surrendered. Apparently, he still remembered what she'd done to him before. As he was led to the police cruiser, Robin turned to the rest of the team.

"Well, that went easier than expected," Beast Boy said.

"I guess you really made an impression on him, Rae," Cyborg said, nudging her.

"I guess we head back to the tower, unless anyone has any other plans?" Robin suggested.

"You guys can go," Raven replied. "I . . . kinda want to hang out around here for a while."

"Are you sure?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," she said. "Go on, I'll be fine." Shrugging, he motioned for everyone to go. Starfire picked him up while Beast Boy transformed into a pteranadon and picked up Cyborg, then they flew off. Raven watched them go, feeling more than a little relieved. She really _wasn't_ attracted to Starfire anymore, but Robin's constant – and more than likely subconscious – attention to her, watching her whenever she was around the alien girl, was irritating and depressing her. She knew he trusted her, but his actions, whether he knew it or not, gave lie to his words. After they were gone, she teleported back to the tower, into her room. Rummaging through her closet, she pulled out a pair of black cargo pants, a dark blue short-sleeve hoodie, and a pair of black and gray high-tops. Changing from her 'hero' clothes to these 'civilian' ones, she teleported back to Jump City – all before the others arrived at the tower.

She had been walking for a few minutes, going nowhere in particular, when she recalled Sera's feather; she'd grabbed it while she was in her room and had put it in her hoodie's pocket-pouch. Pulling it out, she stared at it for a few moments. _She never told me _how_ I was supposed to call her_, Raven thought. Her brow furrowed as she thought, staring intently at the feather. _I just wish she were here._

"You didn't waste too much time," came that familiar voice from behind her. Turning around, she saw the angel girl standing there, a hand on one hip and grin on her face. Raven didn't say anything, just stepped forward and threw her arms around the other girl. Sera didn't ask what was going on; she just wrapped her arms around the Titan and held her close. After a few moments, Raven ended the hug.

"Sorry," she said. "I just . . . I really needed that."

"Hey, no problem," the angel said. "It's what I'm here for. I take it things aren't going well for you right now?"

"More or less."

"I can't exactly smite anyone for you."

"I don't want that!"

"I'm just teasing you! Just a little angel humor. What do you want to do?"

"Would . . . would you like to go have some . . . ice cream?"

Moments later, they were at an ice cream parlor that just happened to have Sera's favorite flavor of ice cream. Raven just stared as the pale-skinned girl devoured the king-size bowl she'd ordered. She noticed the girl's attention when she was halfway through the massive bowl, with her spoon halfway to her mouth.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Raven said quickly, starting on her own ice cream.

"They don't have this where I come from. I'm not supposed to have it when I'm on duty."

"So why are you having it now? Aren't you 'on duty' right now?"

"I'm a 'guardian angel' now, remember? Technically, I'm _always_ on duty. But you needed me, and you wanted to have some ice cream with me, so I'm just doing my duty."

"That's a rather thin excuse."

"But it'll work with my bosses. So, what's bothering you? Besides me eating so much ice cream at once, that is." Taking a breath, Raven launched into an explanation of what was going on right now. About how she'd been attracted to Starfire, how she never said anything until a few days ago because she was afraid of her emotions, how everything spilled out the day of that demon attack, and now the level of tension within the group that didn't seem able to dissipate.

"Wow," Sera said, shaking her head in amazement. "Talk about drama."

"Yeah, I know."

"You still like this Starfire girl?"

"Well, to be honest, no. Not anymore."

"If you've liked her for so long, why don't you still like her now?"

"You remember when you healed me?"

"Yeah," the angel said dreamily. "Your lips tasted good." Raven blushed at that remark and cleared her throat to buy herself time to recover her train of thought.

"Well, I stopped liking Starfire around that same time."

"Whoa. Really?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. "So, um, why did you heal me like that? You know, through a kiss?"

"Well, I _did_ say you were very cute for someone of this plane. But that's not the whole reason. You see, it was once fairly common for beings like me – _and_ like Dashkyr, unfortunately – to be summoned to this material plane. We would do battle in the cause of light or dark, depending on whom summoned us. Though you'd never see a dark worshipper summoning a light being, and vice versa."

"So you would do battle _for_ those humans?"

"Not exactly. The humans were representatives of us on this plane; they had ties to _us_, not us to them. Often, the . . . group of angels I belonged to would feel a call to come to this plane and when we arrived, we'd find humans slaughtering innocents or demons rampaging. And we would exact vengeance and retribution against the guilty parties. But as time moved on, such summoners started becoming rarer and rarer. People stopped believing in the existence of other realms, other dimensions, and so the ability to connect to those other planes stopped being a part of the human spirit. By the time I was born, none had been summoned here for a few years."

"That must have been sad," Raven said.

"Without summoners, or callers, none of us could walk this plane. I don't know about the demons, though I would hazard to guess they had the same dilemma we did."

"My father, Trigon, was a demon."

"Different kind, though we knew of him. He was from a different dimension than the ones like Dashkyr, though I believe there is a connection."

"What do your parents think about how you chose to live your life?"

"I don't know," Sera said, staring at her now empty bowl of ice cream. "I never knew them. I was what we call a warding: a child whose parents are unknown. I was taken in by the . . . group I was a part of and raised as that group's child. I don't know who my parents are, or even if they're still alive. I . . . well, I think they're dead or in hiding, since I'm certain that they would have cared for me if they could have."

"I'm sorry if I've brought up any painful memories."

"Don't worry about, Raven. I've had a good life, though I . . . have had some instances where I don't recall anything at all."

"Missing memories?"

"More like gaps where memories _should_ be but none ever existed."

"That has to be worse."

"I've gotten used to it."

"So is that demon-"

"Dashkyr."

"-is Dashkyr coming here a bad sign?"

"I tend to think so. I assume there was a flash of red light when he appeared?"

"Yeah."

"That's a portaling. That shouldn't be possible for this plane. Not for us, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Portaling is when we teleport ourselves from one dimension, realm, or plane - whichever term you prefer – to another. But this particular material plane doesn't allow such portaling. It makes me worried." Then she smiled. "But enough about that! We just had ice cream! Can we get some more?" Laughing at Sera's eager expression, Raven went to get them some more.

Raven returned home by a more 'conventional' route – she flew rather than teleported. After having their second helping of ice cream, she and Sera had just walked around, Raven explaining everything to the ever curious – and every forward – angel. When Raven decided to go home, Sera had been very good about it all; she gave Raven another kiss before she left. In fact, the gray-skinned Titan could still feel the tingle of the other's lips upon her own.

When she walked into the main room, _everyone_ noticed a difference about her. There was a slight bounce to her step, and – even _more_ shocking – a slight smile on her face. They were all so stunned, in fact, that no one said anything to her; not even about the fact that she must have come back to the tower sometime to change. She just told everyone goodnight and went to her room. When she fell asleep a couple of hours later, the smile on her face was full-grown – and happy.

_That's right_, a dark figure thought, staring into the gray one's room. _Dream of happy things._ She issued a dark chuckle and flipped herself upright. Snapping her wings down in a powerful motion, she shot upwards like a rocket, her four-foot-long, spade-ended prehensile tail trailing behind her. _And while you're dreaming, your friends are, too. Which means I can have some fun without being bothered._

Later, the dark figure was seated in a chair on top of skyscraper, eating a bowl of angel food ice cream. She'd taken the chair, the ice cream, and the table from a small eatery that specialized in the frozen treat. There was another chair at the table, though its occupant was in no condition to eat ice cream. Or anything at all, for that matter. The 'strawberry syrup' on her ice cream wasn't syrup at all, or even strawberry in flavor. And her 'companion' wasn't much of a conversationalist; kind of hard to talk when your head isn't attached to your body any longer and is sitting on the table in front of it.

"I just don't get it, you know?" the dark figure said to the corpse, taking another bite of her ice cream. "The light ones have all of this power, all of this strength . . . and yet they have no desire to use it. Call me an idealist, but I think they'd give us a run for _our_ power if they actually showed some self-concern, you know?" Another bite went into her mouth. "Instead, they have their silly morals that, apparently, allow them to dictate what _we_ can and cannot do." There was a white flash behind her, and she sighed. "Right on cue. At least that's _one_ thing they can get right." Standing up, she turned around to see a Sword of Retribution before her. His glow illuminated her and her outfit. She wore a pair of skintight red shorts with black 'streaks' on the outside, knee-high black boots with short heels, a neck-high sleeveless red zip up vest/shirt a black 'stripe' in the middle on the front and back, and black elbow-length gloves with red fingers. Her skin was a faintly blue-tinged white, and her eyes were rather intimidating: the 'whites' of her eyes were black, the irises were red, and the pupil was white.

"Ares," the Sword said.

"Damoan," she replied sensuously. "_Soo_ nice to see you again."

"You won't get away this time."

"Please," she said contemptuously. "You've said that the last few times you've managed to catch up to me, and you never fail to catch me. Oh, wait, yes, you do." There was a flare of light, and a great broadsword appeared in his hand.

"I have been authorized to _end_ your existence, demon."

"Ohhh, has the 'terrible' Council of Seven grown seven sets of courage?" Ares replied, bringing her hands to her mouth in mock horror. "Oh, what_ever_ shall I do?" She snapped her hands down to her sides and a pair of saw-toothed-edged scimitars with blood-red blades surrounded by black energy appeared in them. She grinned, revealing her sharpened upper and lower canines. "Time to play, little angel," she said; he was, in fact, at least a foot taller than her. Without a word, he charged her, his great broadsword swinging at her side faster than anything that size had a right to move. She dropped down into a split, her legs going straight out to the sides and taking her below the sword's swing. Planting her hands on the rooftop, she pushed herself up and over the angel, spinning around in the air as she did. He twirled around, taking a step away from her as she landed, but it did him no good; she was still too close for him to swing the sword well. Her wicked blades darted and flashed, bringing soul-torturing shrieks of metal-on-metal when her demonic blades clashed with his angelic one. The interplay went on for a while - then she got bored.

Slamming one of her blades against his, Ares forced it away - and darted in to plant her other sword in Damoan's stomach. His broadsword fell from nerveless fingers. Leaving her sword where it was, she punched her now free hand into his chest and ripped out his heart. In the last few seconds of life he had left, he watched in utter horror as her long, flexible tongue slithered out of her mouth and began licking his still-beating heart. The last thing he heard her say was, "Next time, wait until I finish my ice cream before coming to die."

**E/N:** Talk about brutal. That was just . . . brutal.


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** Teen Titans and all associated characters and places are the property of DC. The characters of Sera and Ares are my OCs. Rated M.

**A/N:** This story – and, hopefully, series – will probably be darker than my Titans Forever series. Though admittedly TF had its dark moments. The Shroud of Darkness series, on the other hand, is going (like I said) to more than likely be darker overall. However it becomes (or turns out), I hope y'all will like it. Oh, and I am sorry if this story offends anyone. Warning: brutal violence within.

**Shroud of Darkness** **Book 1: Sera** **Chapter 4: Immortal Combat**

Raven woke the next morning with a sense of dread. She hadn't slept too well, her dreams a mixture of dark amorphous shapes and moments of peaceful contentment. The feeling of dread didn't come from her dream, though. She wasn't clairvoyant, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad would happen soon. She didn't want the others to ask her questions she couldn't answer, so she spent a couple of hours meditating. Once she was certain she wouldn't give away her anxiety, she stripped off her bedclothes and slipped into a black ankle-length terry-cloth robe. Grabbing a dark blue towel and her 'uniform,' she left her room and went to the girls' showers. She thought it was stupid that the tower had grouped showers – though the boys' showers and the girls' showers were on different floors. She suspected the reason for the rooms not having their own built-in bathrooms was because the boys had wanted to catch a glimpse of her or Starfire coming or going. She usually teleported there to avoid such a situation, but chose not to today. She almost hoped Beast Boy would try to see her naked, so she could hit his green ass with a burst of energy.

Unfortunately for her, he didn't even make a try – she couldn't sense him anywhere nearby – so she didn't have an enjoyable way to release her tension. Sighing in only partially feigned disappointment, she walked into the showers. The girls' showers were supposedly keyed to only allow her and Starfire to go in – or one of the other Titans girls if they happened to be there – but she figured that Cyborg knew an override. And she was certain that he was smart enough _not_ to tell Beast Boy about it. She set her clothes in the locker area of the shower room, along with her robe, and took her towel to the shower portion. They were divided into stalls whose walls started at knee-height and ended at shoulder-height. She set her towel in an empty stall and went into the one next to it.

When she had showered and dressed, she made her way to the common room and found everyone else already there. She went to the kitchen in there and made herself some toast with blackberry jam and grabbed a blueberry muffin as well. She knew that Cyborg had made the muffins because she saw Robin and Cyborg eating them, as well; she'd tried one of the shape-shifter's tofu muffins once, and had vowed to show him what she'd Doctor Light if he ever tried to make them again. Though she was at peace now with Robin and Starfire's relationship, thanks mostly to Sera's kiss, she still found that Robin became a little tense whenever she entered the room. She made sure to sit as far from the alien girl as she could without seeming like she was avoiding her.

"I explained to the others what you told me, Raven," Robin said after a moment. "About what happened to you."

"Okay," she replied, munching on her toast.

"Do you think what happened is an isolated incident, or could it be the beginning of something terrible?"

"What happened was terrible enough," she reminded him. "That demon wasn't from the same dimension my father came from. His aura was too different. But . . . I honestly don't think his attack was a random occurrence. That would be like hoping my father had wanted to come back to this dimension for a cup of tea and biscuits."

"Will that angel who saved you help us out?" Cyborg asked, looking at her. "And do you think she'll bring help?"

"I'm pretty sure she _would_ help us," Raven told him. "As for bringing back up, I can't say. I got the impression from her that the angel and demon races she and Dashkyr belonged to have been waging war against each other for thousands of years."

"Is that war starting to spill over here?" Robin asked.

"It could," she answered quietly, staring at her muffin. "I'm pretty sure it is, or it will."

"Do you think we could meet your new friend, Raven?" Starfire asked hopefully.

"I dunno," she replied.

"Would that even be possible?" Beast Boy asked.

"Well, yeah. I spent yesterday afternoon with her, after all," she said without thinking. Then she realized what she'd said and covered her mouth. Everyone was staring at her.

"You hung out with an angel yesterday and didn't tell us?" Robin said, irritated.

"It wasn't any of your business," Raven snapped at him.

"If it impacts the fate of the world it does," he snapped back.

"Not if it's _my_ personal business!"

"It can't be 'personal business' if it involves someone from another dimension whose people are engaged in a war against demonic foes that could spill into _our_ dimension!"

Raven hadn't even realized she had teleported Sera's feather to her, or had even wished she were here, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she was startled to see the ethereal beauty of the angel. When she looked back, she saw the shocked expressions of her teammates.

"Pardon my interruption," she said in her pure and lyrical voice, "but can I tell you to shut the fuck up?" Jaws dropped at the vulgar language coming from her mouth. "You need to take that metal rod out of your ass, Robin, and grow up. The world isn't centered around your childish need to be in charge and in control."

"S-should you b-be using words l-li-like that?" Beast Boy stammered.

"I'm an angel, not a saint," Sera replied. She spitted Robin with a glare. "And you need to either grow up or act your age, not both. Raven doesn't have any romantic interest in Starfire. Even _he_ realizes that," she added, pointing at Beast Boy. "Just so you know, what Raven and I do on our dates _isn't_ your business."

"Dates?" Robin exclaimed. "But you're her guardian angel!"

"And that means what, precisely? That I'm only supposed to protect her body? Not give a damn about her heart and soul? There are ways to separate a soul and a body while leaving the body alive, you know. Astral projection doesn't count since the soul maintains its connection to the body. _She_ called me here, to this dimension. No angel or demon – as you would refer to the dark and light denizens of my home reality – as been called to this plane for over a thousand years. We can't come over on our own, either."

"Apparently you can," Robin said accusingly.

"There are confluences that allow for temporary gaps in the 'shields' between dimensions. Only the Archguardians or the Grand Archguardian possess the power to cross whenever and wherever they wish; anyone lower needs their authority or permission to cross – _or_ a call."

"And the demons? How do you explain them?"

"They have the same limitations we do, smartass," she shot back. "That said, there is a weakening in the dimensional barriers. It isn't deliberate by either side; it's a natural occurrence that happens every ten thousand years, give or take. So you guys better get your asses in gear; there's a war coming to your dimension, whether you want it to or not. Now, you _will_ back your ass off of my girlfriend's issues, or I'll show you what the term 'angelic fury' _really_ means."

Sera led Raven from the room, leaving behind four stunned people.

"Girlfriend?" Raven asked with an inquiring eyebrow, her tone neutral as she tried to hide her hopefulness.

"I was just trying to get him off your back," she replied. "Though I am definitely not against making it a reality. That boy acts like he's already set for retirement."

"He means well, sometimes," she told her. "He's just-"

"Somebody who has to have things _his_ way, and has to make sure _everyone_ knows they're supposed to kowtow to him," Sera interrupted with a cheeky grin. "So, _would_ you like to date an angel?"

"Only if _you'd_ like to date a half-demon," Raven returned.

"What say we get some ice cream and talk it about it more."

"You just want the ice cream."

"Sure do."

Laughing, Raven shook her head and teleported them to an ice cream parlor closer to the tower.

Raven's trepidation from that morning proved correct after night fell. The tower alarms rang out with an alert, and the Titans took off. Sera had returned to wherever she went when she left, so it was just the five of them. Raven had told the others that she could call in her girlfriend if they needed her help; Cyborg thought it was cool that they had 'divine backup,' as he put it.

When they arrived downtown ("Man, why is it _always_ downtown?" Cyborg asked), they found that it wasn't a 'normal' villain; it was a demon. And it turned out to be not just one demon, but four.

"Well, Raven," Beast Boy said, "you're the demon expert. Are they like the one you fought the last time?"

"Except for some differences, yeah," she said. "And I don't think that getting my ass kicked and nearly killed makes me an 'expert.'"

"So what would you suggest we do, then?" Robin asked – right before the demons noticed them.

"Well, _running_ is now out of the question," she answered dryly.

"Half-breed," one of them hissed, glaring at her.

"Do they know you?" Cyborg asked.

"No, but the one that Sera killed said the same thing to me. I think they can smell or sense my demonic blood." Four flashes of red light told Raven something else. "And they've grabbed their weapons."

Without waiting, the Titans launched the offensive. Raven spread out her arms, summoned spheres of dark energy around her hands, and then clapped them together, sending a snaking blast of energy at one of the demons. That demon attempted to halt the blast with an outward palm, but the serpentine energy split around the hand and exploded against its chest in two places, knocking him backwards. Starfire fired her green starbolts at a second, shooting them from her eyes and both of her hands. The blasts of green energy blew up the ground at its feet, knocking it into the air where Beast Boy morphed from a bird into an ankylosaur and drove it into the ground. Cyborg fired a blast of sonic energy that was deflected by the third demon's barbed great sword while Robin was forced to dodge 'hellblasts' from the fourth. The demon Raven had attacked regained its feet and charged at her, his hooked glaive raised up to slash down on her when he closed. The demon Beast Boy had landed on picked him up like a weight-lifter and tossed him away; the shape-shifting Titan morphed into a tiger and landed on his feet and whirled around before turning into a rhino and charging.

_This isn't going to work_, Raven realized. _Maybe if it was just one or two we could take them out. But four? And . . . and I don't know if we would be willing to kill them._ She dodged left as the demon's glaive slammed into the ground where she had been, and fired a close range burst of energy into his head. Roaring in anger and more than a little pain, his free arm lashed out, catching Raven in her gut, knocking the air out of her and sending her flying a few dozen feet. She managed to concentrate enough to ease her landing, but the impact still felt like it snapped a couple of ribs as well as driving what little breath she had left out of her. She blacked out for a few seconds and came to in time to see the demon she'd been fighting falling out of the sky, it's glaive poised to drive through her into the ground.

_Sera!_ she screamed with her thoughts, unable to draw a breath. There was a flash of blinding white light, and the demons were thrown back from the struggling Titans. With the same dramatic flare she'd shown when she first rescued Raven, Sera appeared in the middle of a crater as the light faded. She spread her wings out as she stood up, and she turned to look at the half-demon. Raven had just barely managed to draw a breath, and it was stunned out of her at the sight of the angel's eyes; they were completely subsumed by the same bluish-white light that marked her powers. They seemed to glow brighter as she saw that the teen was injured and she turned back to the four now-recovered demons. She raised her right arm out to the side and summoned her staff; _its_ glow was almost too bright to look at. A smirk found its way onto her face.

"There is a reason why a Guardian is a promotion over a Sword of Retribution," she said, not expecting a reply from anyone – or anything. "Swords are bound by an oath to use only the level of power judged needed in a particular situation." She twirled her staff in one hand before snapping it around and holding it in a two-handed guard. "Guardians, on the other hand, _have no restrictions in the execution of their duties._ You've attacked the woman I care about, and her friends."

The four demons charged her, roaring their defiance and anger, with their weapons raised and hellblasts shooting towards the lone angel. There hadn't been a Guardian in over a thousand years, and these four demons were younger than that. Spinning in place, Sera swung her staff out to its full extension, holding onto one end – and _slammed it through one of the demons_. The other three managed to dodge fast enough to avoid it, and five sets of mortal jaws dropped. One of the surviving demons unveiled twin hellfire-wreathed scimitars and attempted to overwhelm the angel with a fast-moving brutal assault. Sera grabbed her staff in the middle with both hands and broke it in two, using quarterstaff moves with both hands. She deflected or redirected every strike with supernatural speed and force, dodging and around the attacks of the other two demons.

Reforging her staffs as one weapon again, she used the full length of the 'defensive' weapon to block both hellfire scimitars, then rotated around her staff to fling herself into the air as she released it. It vanished at the instant she let go, and the demon's swords slammed into the street with shattering force. Pirouetting in mid-air, Sera snapped out her foot and clipped the great sword-wielding demon in the head, driving him into the ground. Summoning her staff again, she charged back down at the scimitar demon as he whirled around, his blades swinging. Then the angel's whole body seemed to blink, and suddenly she was much closer than the demon expected. Unable to bring his weapons into play fast enough now, he attempted to spit hellfire at her – only to find himself drawing a breath that wasn't there. Looking down, he found the tiny (to him) angel right in front of him. His arms fell to his sides as though they had lost all strength, and the reason why was soon evident: Sera had punched her arm through his tough hide. The skin around her arm began glowing an increasingly bright white as the angel focused her power into her hand. Whipping her other arm around, she used her staff – and the impossible strength she seemed to possess – to block the second demon's great sword.

"For fighting against the cause of right," she said in a ritualistic voice, "I give you my power, my angel's light." Then she released the energy building up in her buried hand – and the demon vaporized completely.

"Oh, shit," Robin whispered, awed, impressed, and frightened at the same time. Now the other two demons weren't looking so cocky; one angel had just taken out two of their number, and hadn't even been harmed. They had come to this plane because of the potential for slaughter and mayhem, as well as the chance to consume the half-breed Dashkyr had found – before his demise at the hands of _this_ particular angel. Not wishing to face her without greater numbers, they turned and fled.

But Sera was filled with the furious power that only love could give, and she wasn't about to let them go. Standing perpendicular to the demons, she shifted her staff to her left hand and raised her right, aiming at the fleeing demons. Holding her palm out to them, she concentrated her energy in it, willing a compressing sphere of energy into existence. The more energy she poured into it, the larger it tried to go; the more she compressed it, the more powerful it became. Finally, for the space of a few heartbeats, she held the energy as it was.

"Now you flee, your time is done," she whispered. "You no longer will be, thanks to my angel gun." Then she snapped her hand closed and extended her first two fingers with her thumb set flat against them. There was a momentary implosion of light at her fingertips before a pair of pencil-thin beams of unimaginably bright light lanced from them. The beams impacted between the two demons before they even realized they were doomed. For a split second, nothing happened. Then the whole downtown area was lit up by a huge dome of white energy. When the light faded, there was no sign that anything had happened – except for the absence of the two demons.

When she turned around to face the Teen Titans, her eyes were back to normal, and her wings and staff were gone. She walked over to Raven and picked her up.

"I'm always having to save your sexy ass," she told the girl.

"You've only saved it twice so far," Raven replied dryly.

"Gee, is that all?" Sera responded in the same tone.

"You . . . you stopped all four," Robin said, stunned, as he walked up.

"No, I didn't stop them," she corrected. "I slew them, killed them, destroyed them completely and utterly." She turned to look at the young man. "I don't believe in half measures with demons. You had better start thinking the same, or you'll end up dead pretty quick."

Sera portaled everyone back to the tower and took Raven to her room. Laying her on the bed, she put her hand to the young woman's forehead.

"You know this, but you've got two broken ribs," she told her.

"Yeah, I figured," Raven agreed.

"You've also wrenched your spine pretty good," she added. "You probably wouldn't realize that until a few hours later when you would be wracked by brutal pain."

"Gee, don't sugarcoat it for me," she replied. "I'm a big girl." Sera chuckled.

"I don't doubt you are, my love," she told her, kissing her on the lips and sending healing energy through her.

Full night had fallen and Ares was walking down the middle of a street, whistling an upbeat funeral march. The street wasn't empty, not quite, as there were still people running and screaming in terror. She really didn't understand their panicked reaction; after all, she'd only killed a couple of dozen people, nothing to freak out about. A prickle at the edge of her aura gave her warning; she sensuously turned out of the path of a blast of light that cratered the ground next to her. Looking up, she saw a quorum of angels descending. Her eyes widened in mock surprise.

"I _am_ most honored," she said, deliberately failing to sound sincere. "Archguardian Nont himself."

"I won't give you the rhetoric you no doubt have come to expect, Ares," he said, alighting on the ground.

"Oh, poo," she pouted, pretending to be upset. "And here I was _so_ hoping to hear more of the inane dribble you angels seem to memorize." She snickered. "Your _son_ was more fun to play with, though I got bored too easily."

"My son is but the most recent angel whose death is laid at your feet," Nont replied. "You have taken countless lives-"

"Four hundred twenty-three angels, one hundred seventeen of which were high-class Swords of Retribution, as well as one thousand twenty-three mortals," she interrupted. She thought for a moment, then reached behind herself and fired off a hellblast. "Make that one thousand twenty-seven mortals," she corrected. "What're you gonna do about it, asswipe?"

"Kill you," he said simply, and all seven angels drew forth twin recurved fighting blades. As the angels charged at her faster than any she'd fought before, Ares felt her smile widen greatly, baring her teeth. Crouching down, she snapped forth her deadly scimitars. With a howl of glee, she thrust herself into the middle of their formation. Her attacks, blocks, and dodges seemed more some kind of sensuous, erotic, and deadly dance than fighting, yet not one of the angels could penetrate her defenses. The energy levels and destruction wrought by the fighting was sure to attract the attention of whatever defenders this city had, but Ares didn't want things to end too quickly; she was having too much fun. One of the angels cried out in triumph as his blade sliced into her side. It was only a flesh wound to her, and she watched as the angel's triumphant expression gave way to one of fear and horror as she closed with him and clamped her mouth around his neck, her jaws hyper-extending to take all of it. Then she snapped her mouth closed with more force than a hydraulic ram and bit the doomed angel's head clean off. Blood erupted from the ripped and torn stump of his neck as his severed head flew into the air to bounce off the pavement. Shocked by the brutality of their comrade's death, the other five angels and Archguardian Nont were frozen in disbelief. Ares just raised her head to the night sky and laughed gleefully as the angel's body collapsed to the ground, blood spraying from what was left of the neck and drenching her.

Realizing her prey wasn't moving caused her to explode into action. Her next victim had just started back-pedaling when her swords – held parallel to the ground but one over the other – pierced his gut to the hilt. Grinning hugely, her eyes twice as big as they were from bloodlust and maniacal glee, she ripped her swords out the sides, severing the angel in half. Without even pausing she spun around to ram her blade through the bottom of the next angel's jaw and out the top of her head. Yanking her sword backwards, she split the woman's head in two and used her bloodied blades to deflect the strikes from two of the three remaining angels – Nont was hanging back, preparing some sort of light attack and guarded by the last angel. Deciding her fun had gone on long enough, she drove both of her blades into one angel's chest. Leaping into the air and leaving her swords where they were at, she flipped over the other angel's head and landed on his shoulders. Then she reached down, grabbed his head, and ripped it off – bringing his spinal column with it. Tossing it aside, she jumped off the falling body and fired a hellblast that vaporized the one remaining angel – other than Nont, of course. Instead of preparing an attack, he was now trying to portal out. Chuckling darkly and maniacally, she slammed her fist into his chest, knocking him back several dozen feet. He hit the ground, bounced, and skidded back several more feet.

And Ares was right there, kneeling beside him.

"W-what are you?" he asked, his voice holding a large amount of fear. Ares basked for a moment in the headiness of his fear-drenched aura before replying.

"You're not going to live much longer so I see no need to keep it from you," she said, placing a hand on his chest. "I'm not natural. I shouldn't exist. Of course, there's someone else who shouldn't exist, either. Only nobody else knows it, not even her."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm explaining that. My father was a powerful demon, perhaps one of _the_ most powerful demons. Of course, he was what you erroneously call a 'higher demon.' The mortals of this realm have a more accurate name, though it, too, isn't the whole of it: hellspawn. Hellbane would be more accurate still, though you might recognize the true name of my father's people: _drayvern_."

"Impossible!" he gasped. "Drayvern are naught but a myth, a legend. Creatures said to have been destroyed over an eon ago, if they existed at all."

"Oh, they did, though one managed to survive the angels' purge," she corrected, pure hatred and venom filling her voice. "My father spent millennia recovering. Over a thousand years ago, during the End of the Callings, my mother came across him, serving in the demonic army that had arisen in the eon he had been recovering. It wasn't hard to recognize him for what he was, of course; he was far more powerful than any demon. Yet he was serving as a general. She learned that he was seeking vengeance for the annihilation of his people, an annihilation that had been unwarranted, a genocide that was done out of fear and ignorance. And wouldn't you know it? They fell in love. Imagine that. They could not reveal it, of course, since the result of such a revelation would result in both of their deaths. But they were doomed anyway. A 'noble' force of angels, led by the Grand Archguardian and including you in its number, descended upon the encampment where he was ensconced. My mother was there, but could not allow herself to be known. So my father charged out to meet the angels, to battle with them so she could escape. But she did not flee far." Ares looked down at the angel and saw his eyes wide with horror and realization. "By the end of battle, my father was mortally wounded and only you, the Grand Archguardian, and one other were left alive. And as you three slew my father, my mother vowed vengeance upon you all – and your people. She did not know until a few months later that her last moment with my father had given her a child. A unique child that could be forged into a tool of vengeance."

"You," he breathed.

"Yes, me. Normally, a half-breed would have resulted. That is, had my father been a demon instead of a drayvern. So a unique entity was born. One that was possessed of two halves, each complete and separate from the other, yet residing within one body."

"Who is your mother?" Ares laughed at the question, truly amused.

"You really don't know, do you?" she asked, and laughed again. Plunging her hand into his chest and clenching it around his heart, she leaned down and whispered, "You served with her in the war against the demons, and she has led the Guardians of Light for the last nine hundred years."

"Pyra," he gasped as she filled his heart with hellfire and erased him from existence.

**E/N:** Has anybody figured it out yet?


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** Teen Titans and all associated characters and places are the property of DC. The characters of Sera and Ares are my OCs. Rated M.

**A/N:** This story – and, hopefully, series – will probably be darker than my Titans Forever series. Though admittedly TF had its dark moments. The Shroud of Darkness series, on the other hand, is going (like I said) to more than likely be darker overall. However it becomes (or turns out), I hope y'all will like it. Oh, and I am sorry if this story offends anyone. Lemon . . . and futa.

**Shroud of Darkness** **Book 1: Sera** **Chapter 5: Falling in Love – Twice**

When Raven woke up the next morning, she found herself alone. That wasn't unusual, but she could have sworn there was (or had been) someone in the room with her. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and realized that sunlight was streaming through her still closed curtains. _What time _is_ it?_ she asked herself as she looked at her clock. She was surprised to see it was nearly noon. _Damn! I didn't know it was _that_ late!_

"Sera?" she called out, still a little sleepy. There was a temporary flash of light that resolved itself into the angel in question – who was sitting cross-legged on her bed.

"What's up, Raven?" the white-and-blue-haired girl asked.

"I thought you were before," the gray girl replied.

"I left after you fell asleep."

"Oh, okay."

"Why?"

"I just . . . it felt like there was someone here, that's all."

"You know, I've felt that way my whole life."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Like there's someone else around, but whenever I look there isn't anyone there." She shrugged. "Nothing new, though."

"Yeah," Raven agreed. "Why didn't anybody wake me up?"

"I dunno. Except for you and me, this place is empty. Of course, I think Robin would avoid me if he knew I was here."

"Well, you _did_ tear him a new asshole."

"Yeah, but now he's got _three_ of them." The remark actually caused Raven to giggle, a sound that surprised both of them. "I don't think I've heard you sound like that before. Granted, I haven't been around all that often so I don't know if you laugh during the times I'm not here."

"I . . . well, I don't usually . . . laugh much," Raven admitted. "Beast Boy's tried to get me to laugh several times, but he really isn't as funny as he likes to think he is." She looked at Sera. "Or perhaps I just needed the right person to make me laugh."

"Can I tell you something, Raven?" Sera asked, moving to where she was sitting beside the (much) younger woman.

"You can tell me anything you want," the gothic teen answered.

"I've never been love," she said. "Never. I've lived for over nine hundred years and not once did I ever fall in love. I like guys and girls equally, though I lean more towards girls than guys. I'm not inexperienced, mind you, but every one of those was a fling, a dalliance. I cared about them, of course; I can't _not_ be that intimate with a person and _not_ care about them. But not one person I've ever been with has ever touched as deeply as you have in as short a time. Or at all." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You're the first person I've ever been attracted to physically _and_ emotionally. More than just attracted to, I mean. Whenever I'm back home – and that's where I go when I leave, by the way – I miss being around you. When I'm around you, I never want to leave."

"I feel the same way Sera," Raven told her. "I'm as inexperienced as you are experienced. There's only one person I was ever attracted to, and she loves someone else. It didn't lessen my attraction, and seeing them together just made it worse for me. And then I met you. Sure, I wasn't in any condition to be aware of much else, but the moment you kissed me, healing me, I lost all interest in anyone else. When you're gone, I miss you. A lot. I know you don't intend for me to be another mark for you, someone to care for and then leave."

"I could _never_ do that to you, Raven," the angel replied.

"I know," she agreed. "Sera . . . I want you to be my first and only."

"I can only promise to be your first," was the reply. "You might find someone on your plane to care about, someone you can grow old with. I'm . . . I'm immortal, Raven, unless I'm killed. I wish I could grant you immortality, too, so we could be together forever, but that is a selfish desire. It wouldn't be fair to you or those you know to do that to you – even if I had the power to do so. If you were immortal, everyone you know now would be gone in eighty years or so. Only I would be constant."

"Then . . . will you be my first?" Raven asked, understanding what the other girl was saying, and loving her all the more for it. _Love?_ she asked herself. She thought about it for a moment, then nodded to herself. _Love._

"I will be honored to be your first, Raven." The two of them had been subconsciously leaning towards each other through their dialogue, and now barely any distance separated their lips. So it wasn't far to go before they kissed, this time with no healing energy coming between them. Just pure, honest emotion. Turning to face each other more fully, both of them raised their hands up to the other's face and gently cupped it without breaking the kiss. When they broke off the kiss, they just sat there for a moment, looking at each other. Their eyes saying at their mouths could not. Not with words, anyway. Raven leaned back, breaking the embrace, then reached down and pulled off her midnight-purple chemise from the bottom up. Sera stared in awe at the gray colored breasts with their much darker gray nipples. They were small and petite, and were – to Sera – much more attractive than larger breasts would be. Without a word, for none were needed now, the angel concentrated for a moment – and all of her clothes just vanished right off her body. Raven gaped as she realized that her girlfriend and now lover really _was_ a natural white and blue.

"You have _got_ to teach me that trick," she said softly. Tossing her sheet aside, she reached down and slipped out of her panties, flinging them away. Smiling, Sera crawled over to her as Raven fell back onto her bed. Leaning down, the pale colored angel captured her lover's lips with her own. The gray girl reached up and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, pulling her down to her and bringing both pairs of small breasts into contact. Low moans escaped the two, changing into a cry from Raven as Sera slipped a hand between them and into her. She'd only slipped in one finger, which was plenty for Raven right now.

"Goooddess," she moaned as she felt the finger begin moving in and out, slowly and gently. Sera had shifted to suckling her lover's neck, and now moved to her breasts, teasing the nipple with her tongue before going down to suck on it. The gray woman moaned louder and placed her hands on the angel's head, holding it in place. Sera wanted to draw this out as long as she could for Raven, to give her as much pleasure and love as possible for her first time, but she sensed that her lover wasn't far from release. So she chose to give her the best possible experience she could right now. Removing her hand from Raven's womanhood, she took her mouth from the girl's breast – and put it where her hand had been. The taste was beyond anything she'd imagined, and judging by the way her lover's thighs clamped around her head, it was an experience beyond anything Raven had dreamed of. Her expertise and skill made certain that Raven would have a memorable experience, while the same ensured that it wasn't long before her release was going down Sera's throat.

Later, they lay in Raven's bed just cuddling, occasionally touching or caressing, but mostly just looking at each other. The Titan had been blown away by the experience, not realizing just how wonderful such intimacy could be; for her part, the angel had never realized just how amazing it could be when it was with someone who meant everything to her. What they had done was no mere physical gratification, but had been how their souls could express themselves to one another.

"I'm not going home this time," Sera told her, brushing a strand of hair away from her face.

"You're going to stay here?" Raven asked, propping herself up on an elbow. "With me?"

"It would take more force, more power, than my superiors possess to pull me from your side," she replied, smiling. "And that's the truth. I've given myself to you, heart and soul. We are bound together, you and I. I will obey orders still, but they no longer have any power to force me into actions against my will." She smiled. "There is a reason there are few Guardians."

_Once again she was on the windswept cliff. She could not recall how she had gotten here, but knew that she had done so on her own again._

**You have returned.**

_I know how to get here, but I don't remember_

**That you are here says you do not need to.**

_Who are you?_

**Someone you have come to know, but do not know at all.**

_I don't understand_

**Come to me and you shall. You shall understand, though you may wish you did not.**

_How do I find you?_

**Just follow the path within. Look not with your eyes, for they do not see what is before you.**

_Raven started walking towards the land leading from the cliff's edge, walking into a forest of some kind that had appeared as she had neared it. She didn't recognize the trees, whose strange shapes and colors pulled at her senses. She followed a path that she could not see but knew was there. Whenever she looked, she became lost and uncertain. She learned to trust in where she was going, rather than on what she was seeing._

**Stop.**

_She stopped moving._

**You are here.**

_She didn't see anything._

**Awake.**

Raven's eyes snapped open and she found herself standing in a place she didn't recognize. It was a lavishly appointed room, colored in dark blood red and impenetrable black. And lounging in an extravagant, overstuffed chair was someone she didn't know. She would have sworn it was Sera, only her dark blood-red hair was short and punky, with the bangs on either side of her face long and styled up into horns. She was wearing a pair of skintight red shorts with black 'streaks' on the outside, knee-high black boots with short heels, a neck-high sleeveless red zip up vest/shirt a black 'stripe' in the middle on the front and back, and black elbow-length gloves with red fingers. Her skin was a faintly blue-tinged white, and her eyes were rather intimidating: the 'whites' of her eyes were black, the irises were red, and the pupil was white.

"W-who are you?" she stammered, staggering back.

"Why, Raven, don't you recognize me?" the demonic figure replied with obviously false innocence.

"Where's Sera?"

"Foolish, foolish mortal," she replied, shaking her head sadly. "It's not surprising you don't know, considering _she_ doesn't, either. Not yet, anyway." She stood up in a languid, sensuous motion and strode up to the Titan; Raven was too confused and entranced to move. There was something unsettlingly familiar about this girl.

"My name is Ares," she said, stopping well inside Raven's comfort zone. "And you could say I'm the 'dark side' of your beloved angel." She enjoyed seeing the girl's discomfort and confusion, along with a hint of something else. "It's a rather long and involved tale. You are a half-breed; I can _smell_ it on you. I imagine it was your father that was the demon."

"How did you-"

"Know? As I said, I can smell it on you. Unlike you, Sera and I are not a half-breed; we are a hybrid. Our mother was an angel, like her, while our father was a drayvern – like me."

"A what?"

"Oh, we no longer exist; officially, according to angel and demon legends, we died out long before Trigon became the threat that had him banished. My father was the last survivor and eventually wound up serving with the demons. It shouldn't have happened, our parents' romance, but it did."

"I want to leave. Now."

"You can't. I won't allow it. You came here of your own free will, but it is my will now that will let you go – if I want it."

"What do you want?"

"No, no, Raven. What do _you_ want?"

"I want to leave."

"Then why haven't you? You found your way into _my_ realm on your own."

"That was _you_ calling to me? Talking to me?"

"Yes. I didn't seduce you there, nor did I seduce you here; _you_ came to _me_. _You_ called out to _me_." Ares leaned forward and kissed Raven on the lips. Rather than pull away, like she was thinking of doing, Raven found herself responding to the kiss, hungrily trying to devour the drayvern's lips. Breaking away, she found herself panting, trying to reign herself back.

"What are you doing to me?"

"All I did was kiss you, Raven; _you_ did the rest."

"But I love Sera! I do!"

"We are one and the same person, Raven. My mother should not have been able to become pregnant from my father, but she did. And it created a unique individual; an abomination, really. Sera and I are the same being. We are a living embodiment of balance, of duality. Yin and yang, I believe some on this plane refer to it. Dark in light, light in dark. As a result of our heritage, both of us are unbelievably powerful. There is no telling, no control, over which aspect will be in control when. However, back in the home dimension of the 'angels' and 'demons,' Sera was in control; it was only when she went to other planes that I had a chance to come out." Ares shrugged. "It's part of a geas put on me."

"Why doesn't Sera know any of this?"

"It ties in with that geas, Rae. You see, once Mother knew of our existence, she set about laying the groundwork for vengeance."

"Vengeance?"

"Who do you think was responsible for Father's death? It was the angels. Mother vowed to destroy them as they had destroyed her beloved, and all of his people. As long as Sera was in the realm of angels, Ares – that's me – could not be free. Not until the time was right, that is. I retain all of our memories; things Sera doesn't even know she should remember."

"The black outs," Raven whispered.

"Those are but a small part of it. You see, I've grown weary of Mother's control over us. I am willing to allow her the vengeance she so desperately desires, but that is _my_ will. I have found a way to release the geas she has put on her own daughter, though I can't say what the result will be. But it will give Sera every thought and memory I possess, giving her _full_ awareness of her heritage."

"What will it do to her?"

"Didn't you hear me say I don't know what the result will be, you idiot? It could destroy us both, split us apart into two separate beings, maybe even fuse us into one. I don't fucking know."

What Raven meant to ask was: "What do you expect _me_ to do?"

What she _actually_ asked was: "What can I do?"

Ares smiled – and vanished _both_ of their clothes. Raven had seen the trick before when Sera had done it, though she didn't know that it could be done to her own as well. And like Sera, the color of Ares's hair between her legs was the same as her hair. What had Raven riveted in shock and disbelief was the rising erection between the drayvern girl's legs.

"It's unique to drayverns," Ares told her, knowing her thoughts. "Fully hermaphroditic. Male _and_ female parts on a female body."

"So your father-"

"Was the same way, yes," she confirmed. Suddenly, though, she seemed a little shy, a little awkward. "I am evil, without morals. If I want to do something, I go and do it. Murder, slaughter, massacre, whatever. I have no restraint at all. And yet . . . I want you. Badly. Desperately. I could take you right now and you couldn't stop me. But as I said before, there is dark in light and light in dark. So . . . I'm asking. Will you give yourself to me, Raven? Will you . . . love me?"

"After what you just told me about yourself?" Raven asked in disbelief.

"It's in my nature, Raven. I know no other way because I wasn't really raised. I simply spawned and developed as the opposite of Sera. I know my father was different than I, towards the end of his life. It's a racial memory thing, contained within the DNA. _But I don't know how to change._ When you came into my realm, the pocket I reside in when Sera is in charge, I had hope. Then you found your way to me again." She looked down and her shoulders drooped. "You know what it's like to be bound to a destiny you have no power to change," she went on quietly. Then she looked up at Raven, the malevolence and insanity gone from her face. "Won't you help us out?"

Raven thought about it, which surprised her. She should be repulsed by Ares's behavior – what was between her legs didn't matter at all to the Titan – but she found herself attracted to something within the drayvern. Something within Raven was pulled to something within Ares, and she feared it was her demonic heritage. But then, as she thought about it, she realized it was coming from her heart.

"One more thing, Raven," Ares said, regaining the girl's attention. "Sera _is_ bound to you as she said she was. That bound is not something I can overcome. Do you think Sera would have allowed you to come to me if I meant you harm? We are one and the same; if there was the possibility that I would harm you, her aura would have prevented you from coming to her as me."

"My mind tells me I should leave, now," Raven said quietly, before meeting Ares's terrible and alluring eyes. "But my heart, soul, and instincts are telling that you speak the truth. And . . . something else within me confirms your words."

"That would be the essence of herself that Sera put within you, unintentionally, during the times she healed through a kiss. She imparted a small part of her soul to you." Ares didn't have a moment to say anything else, for her mouth was occupied with Raven's lips. For the first time in her 973 years, Ares felt a light within her heart, her soul. The light became brighter when she realized that Raven had believed her, had believed that she was telling the truth – which she had been. She found she couldn't lie to the gray woman, and that she didn't want to. She let her hands roam over Raven's body, the curves and crevasses familiar yet new. Ares guided them both to the bed in the room and gently sat down on it, pulling Raven onto her lap. The Titan froze when she felt the drayvern's erection against her ass, its length nestled between her cheeks, and looked into her eyes.

"Only if you want to," she whispered, though Raven could sense and hear her longing.

"It is a gift that can only be given once," she told her just as softly.

"It is a memory that Sera will have as well after this night. You can still say 'no;' I won't force you to. And I don't want to."

In response, Raven raised herself up and positioned her sex over the tip of Ares's phallus. And as she slowly lowered herself down, both knew that everything was about to change.

**E/N:** And that's it. A rather shocking turn of events. Ares is a bad-ass bitch with a secret heart.


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** Teen Titans and all associated characters and places are the property of DC. The characters of Sera and Ares are my OCs. Rated M.

**A/N:** This story – and, hopefully, series – will probably be darker than my Titans Forever series. Though admittedly TF had its dark moments. The Shroud of Darkness series, on the other hand, is going (like I said) to more than likely be darker overall. However it becomes (or turns out), I hope y'all will like it. Oh, and I am sorry if this story offends anyone.

**A/N 2:** There will be some references to torture in this chapter, but references only; no descriptions. There will also be descriptions of the aftermath of said torture – but, again, no descriptions _of_ the torture itself.

**Shroud of Darkness** **Book 1: Sera** **Chapter 6: Changing Destiny**

When Raven woke up the next morning, she found herself back in her room. She didn't think it was strange until she recalled the events of last night. Recalling what had happened caused her to bolt upright, looking wildly around the room. Her gaze fell upon a shocking sight: Sera scrunched up in a corner, her head buried in her arms, rocking back and forth. Shame filled the gray Titan as she remembered _everything_ that had happened a few hours ago – and how much she'd enjoyed it all. She hadn't been afraid to lose control, because Ares had proven that she could take anything Raven dished out. Disregarding her nudity, she climbed out of bed and walked over to her angel.

"Sera?" she said quietly. She wanted to reach out and pull the woman to her, but was uncertain if it would be welcome now. To her surprise and relief, when the angel looked up and saw who it was through tear-streaming eyes, she threw herself into Raven's arms. The dark-haired girl just held her, feeling her body shudder and convulse with sobs, the sounds muffled by her shoulders. Raven wrapped her arms around Sera and began stroking her hair, making soothing sounds and murmurs. After a while, she felt the shudders lessen until they stopped altogether.

"It's all true, isn't it?" Sera asked, her head still buried in Raven's shoulder.

"Yes," Raven told her. "I'm afraid it is."

"I'm a monster, aren't I?"

"No!" she replied, appalled. "No, you're _not_ a monster."

"Raven . . . you've met _her_, the other side of me. You _know_ what she's done, what she _can_ do. And we're the _same_ person." Raven could feel her wanting to cry again. But before she could speak, Sera went on. "I remember everything, thanks to you now. I'm not blaming you, Raven. I'm not mad at you, either. I _wanted_ to remember my parents, to remember what happened during those blank stretches of memory I had. I didn't think it would as horrible as it is."

"It _was_ terrible, yes," Raven agreed, "but it's not your fault, and it's not Ares's fault. She has done horrendous things, it's true, but only a few of her victims were innocent."

"She's killed _angels_, Raven! _My_ people!"

"They're not your people."

"What?" _That_ comment brought her head up and she looked Raven in the eyes.

"They're not your people," she repeated. "Think about what's happened to you. Your own mother saw you only as a way to avenge her lover. She locked away half of you in order to force it to become a dark and vicious entity. She didn't even _claim_ you as family. She directed you onto the path of a warrior, knowing that whatever you learned your darkness would learn. She left you alone, and made sure you _stayed_ alone. Ares, your 'dark side,' was just doing the only thing she knew how to do."

"She . . . I . . . enjoy killing, Raven," Sera said, her voice sounding like her soul was breaking. "How can you even try to comfort me like this?"

"Because I love you," she replied. "_Both_ sides of you."

"How? How could you love me when I can turn into a blood-thirsty heartless monster?"

"Because she isn't heartless."

"What?"

"You know I had sex with her; that's how you were able to remember everything. I'm not sure exactly how it worked, though. Well, I saw the truth of her words as she filled me, as we . . . made love. That's what it was, deep down. Sure, it was aggressive and rough, but I could sense you in her. Both your light and your dark side mean everything to me. I don't see it as loving two different people; I see it as loving two different aspects of the _same_ person."

"You really believe that?" Sera asked, wanting to hope it was true.

"With all of my heart and soul. And, deep down, you believe it, too."

"What . . . what do I do now?"

"That's up to you. I only really see two choices, though: you can continue as you are, switching between light and dark randomly, or you can bring both sides of you together as one." Raven could see the question in her love's eyes. "No, I don't know how you could do that. I suspect that that is something you have to figure out for yourself."

"All I've ever known – or thought I've known – is the life I've lived for the last nine hundred years," Sera told her. "I was a Sword of Retribution, enforcer of the will of the Council of Seven. Then . . . you called to me. It was a call I couldn't resist. A call I had no will to resist. In over a thousand years, not one angel has ever been called to this dimension. I was bound by an oath to serve the Council's will. And you've changed all of that. Not just last night, when you made love to my dark half and restored my memories, but the very moment I met you." Then a smile came on her face. A true, genuine smile of happiness. "I don't know what I'm going to do next . . . and it is a wondrous thing."

They'd held each other for a while longer, Sera just enjoying the feel of Raven's arms around her, the sensation of utter contentment she found in there. Raven felt happier than she'd ever had before. She'd been afraid she had screwed things up, that she had destroyed her love with Sera by falling in love with her dark half, Ares, as well. And now she knew nothing had been further from the truth. After Sera had yawned, the gray Titan helped her to her bed and laid her on it. Covering her up, she gave the already sleeping woman a feather-light kiss on the lips, then went and dressed herself in a pair of black cargo pants and a midnight-purple t-shirt. Barefoot, she made her way to the roof of the tower and stood at the edge, actually basking in the sunlight and the gentle breeze. For a moment, all felt right with the world.

But only for a moment.

"It wasn't easy finding you," said someone from behind her. Whirling around, she was shocked to see it was an angel – but not Sera. This was an older woman whose aura radiated with power.

"Who are you?" she demanded, ready to fight if she had to.

"That's not the attitude you should be taking with me, you know," the woman said, her tone mild. "I'm not adverse to hurting you to get what I need."

"What are you talking about?"

"Almost a thousand years of planning and effort," the angel told her. "Nearly a third of my life, as a matter of fact. Everything was coming to fruition. Then _you_ had to become involved."

"You're . . . you're Pyra," Raven said in realization. "You're Sera's . . . Ares's . . . mother."

"You've met Ares, then," Pyra said, one brow raised. Then she smiled. "And you've _been_ with her, too. Both sides, as a matter of fact. Perhaps all is not lost after all." Raven blinked, and she was gone. Before she could react, though, she felt something slam into the back of her head, knocking her to the roof. If the blow to the head hadn't begun sending her unconscious, the impact with the roof certainly did.

"You'll pay for nearly ruining my plans, mortal," she dimly heard Pyra say. "And then I'll inform my daughter that the angels allowed you to fall to harm while she rested." Those were the last words Raven heard for she was consumed by darkness.

**Wake up.**

Sera stirred in her sleep, mumbling.

**Wake up.**

She rolled over onto her other side, her brow furrowing.

**Would you fucking wake up, already?!**

She bolted upright, her staff flashing into existence in her hand. "Who's there?" she asked, looking around.

**Who do you think it is, genius?**

"Ares," she said, her staff fading away.

**Bingo, 'sister.'**

"Where are you?"

**In **_**you**_**, dumbass. Now shut up and listen.**

"You're being a bitch, you know."

**Stop being such a goody-goody and listen, damnit! Raven's gone!**

"What?!" Sera shouted, springing out of bed with her clothes fading into existence around her.

**She's been gone for a few hours now.**

"Why didn't I wake up when she left? Why didn't _you_ wake me up if something was wrong?"

**Because, you idiot, it's taking **_**a lot**_** of effort just to communicate with you now. Or would that be 'myself' now? Doesn't matter, because you're talking to yourself anyway. As to why you didn't wake up when she left this plane, blame Mother for that.**

"Mother came? Here? How?"

**Who knows, and who cares? The point is that she came here and **_**took Raven from us.**_

"What does she want with Raven?"

**Think about it, Sera. For the past millennium, she's been plotting her revenge against the Council of Seven for murdering Father. We, or I should say 'I,' was to be her tool of vengeance. But in spite of my unnatural dormancy within you, the suppression of your drayvern heritage, I formed a consciousness, a will, of my own. And I decided I didn't **_**want**_** to be her tool. And I wouldn't allow you to be a tool, either. So I convinced Raven to make love to me, too. But you know all of that now, just as you know that Raven's love and acceptance of **_**both**_** of us broke the seal Mother put on me.**

"She took Raven for punishment," Sera said, feeling a cold vise squeeze her heart.

**Yes. She'll hurt **_**you**_** to bring **_**me**_** forth, but in an uncontrolled frenzy. I imagine if I hadn't contacted you like this, she would've summoned you and blamed the Council for Raven's abduction – or death.**

Sera felt a fury ignite within her, a cold burning sensation that she had never felt before. A low, rumbling growl escaped her throat.

**Don't lose your head, 'Sis.' I want our Raven back as much as you do, maybe more. Something was different about her when I brought her back here. I can't explain it now, even if I knew. You **_**know**_** if we go off half-cocked here that she'll spin things against us.**

"She may have already done that, so we've got nothing to lose."

**Except Raven.**

"We're portaling home. Now."

Raven lay curled up in a fetal position, not caring that the stones beneath her bare flesh were cold. She just tried to make herself as small as possible, to try to escape the pain that still rippled through her. She'd been healed before being dumped back in her cell, but not like Sera healed her. They'd only healed her wounds; they healed them as scars and left the pain there. Her back was covered with crisscrossing patterns of whitish-gray scar tissue, she had healed lacerations on her breasts and stomach, and she could only count to three on her left hand. Pyra never asked her any questions during the three 'sessions' she'd gone through; just pushed her to the upper limits of pain and beyond – while keeping her conscious through it all. At the end, though, she _would_ ask one question: "Are you ready to die?"

Raven's answer was always a defiant, pain-filled, "Never!"

She _did_ want to wish for death, though. She couldn't deny that, not to herself. But she wouldn't give in to that desire. She had faith that Sera would come for her, no matter what. A painful, blood-caked smile cracked her face. _I pity these assholes_, she thought. _Especially if Sera and Ares get their acts together._

When Sera portaled into the courtyard outside the Hall of Council, she found herself surrounded by Swords of Retribution. She knew this wasn't a good sign, not for her.

"Let me pass," she said and moved forward – only to be stopped by a naginata pointing at her chest.

"You are to surrender yourself," the angel said. "Now."

"Excuse me? I am Sera, a Guardian of Light, and I ask once more that you let me pass."

"You are no longer a Guardian of Light," the angel replied. _Now_ she was surprised. "You have betrayed your oaths, your calling, and your people. You are to be placed within confinement until the Council can review your situation."

"Confinement? Not imprisonment?"

"Archguardian Taln intervened for you," he replied, nodding to her. "It was why you have been met by Swords rather than Seraphs." She nodded her understanding; Seraphs were the elite guard of the Council, powerful warriors used only in the direst of situations.

"I must speak with Archguardian Pyra, though," she said, gauging the Swords' mood.

"She shall be informed of your request. Now, come with us." Conceding this battle, she allowed the Swords to escort her away from the Hall of Council. Taln had always looked out for her, and had distrusted Pyra – her mother – though he had no idea of their relationship.

She was suddenly driven to her knees as a spike of pain shot through her chest. Clutching fiercely at the location of the pain, she dimly heard a Sword asking her something. A single thought speared through her mind: _Raven!_ Something terrible was happening to her beloved – something fatal. Staggering to her feet, she snapped out her wings.

"Stand down, Sera! Now!" a Sword spoke. "Even Taln can only go so far! Stand down, or the Seraphs will come!"

"Let them come, then," she growled, her tone making all of them step back several paces. "Nothing will stand between me and my beloved – not even the council itself."

**E/N:** This chapter wasn't exactly easy for me to write, so I hope I did a good job. Somebody just pissed off the wrong angel.


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** Teen Titans and all associated characters and places are the property of DC. The characters of Sera and Ares are my OCs. Rated M.

**A/N:** This story – and, hopefully, series – will probably be darker than my Titans Forever series. Though admittedly TF had its dark moments. The Shroud of Darkness series, on the other hand, is going (like I said) to more than likely be darker overall. However it becomes (or turns out), I hope y'all will like it. Oh, and I am sorry if this story offends anyone.

**A/N 2:** The 'angels' and 'demons' in this story aren't heavenly or hellish entities per se; that's just the closest way to describe them. They're other-dimensional beings.

**Shroud of Darkness** **Book 1: Sera** **Chapter 7: Immortal Fury**

From somewhere within her, Raven felt an echo reach her. As dazed and wracked with pain as her mind was, she managed to pull her thoughts together enough to say, with words and thought, one thing: "Sera. Ares."

Sera felt the call and grinned. Only the grin wasn't entirely hers; she felt Ares stirring within. One of the Swords attempted to approach her, but the gaze she snapped at him made him reconsider; her eyes were glowing with angelic fury.

"Back off," she growled.

"You've forced our hand, Sera," the lead Sword said, nodding to his squad. She could feel the build-up of energy and knew they would try to stun her; she wasn't under any such constraints nor did she feel the need to be. Without any warning or indication, her staff was in her hands and being whipped around. It took the head off of two of the Swords before they realized what was going on and sprang backwards. _And now I'm like my dark side_, she thought. But she also knew that nothing and no one was more important than Raven, and she would kill whoever she had to in order to get to her. With a scream of fury, she launched herself high into the air. As soon as she'd gained enough altitude, she spotted the golden-armored forms of the Seraph Guard flying towards her at high speed. Snarling, she ignored them and began looking around, trying to sense where Raven was.

It was only reflex that made her jerk back so that the white energy blast just missed her head. Snapping her head back, she saw one of the Seraph Guard had a great bow and was about to launch another summoned blast of energy at her. Now that she was aware of it, she could sense Ares within her and could tell that she wanted her chance to come out. She hesitated only for a moment before giving way. A burst of black-tinged red energy surrounded her, only to fade away moments later.

And now the Seraph Guard, along with the Swords of Retribution, found themselves facing fury incarnate.

With her draconic wings keeping her aloft, Ares snapped her arms down and summoned her hellish scimitars.

"Game on, bitches," she growled, a bloodthirsty and eager grin splitting her face.

Ares's energy was impossible to miss; in other words, one would have to be dead to miss it. Which meant that every single angel, including the six surviving archguardians, felt it. And none had felt that particular energy for 973 years. Though all felt a sense of trepidation, only two felt a stirring of fear: the Grand Archguardian . . . and Archguardian Pyra.

Her mother.

The Seraph loosed his bolt, the energy launching from the bow with tremendous speed. But Ares wasn't there anymore. Until her blades punched out through his gut no one knew where she'd gone. Wrenching one blade up and the other down, she brutally tore him in half. Extending the hilts of her blades from the one-hand grip to a hand-and-a-half grip, she fused the bottoms of the hilts together with the blades' cutting edges facing in opposite directions. Then she spun and twirled it, easily picking off the strikes of the remaining Seraphs. She punched her fist through one's chest and fired off a hellblast that punched out through her back and blew the head off of an unfortunate Sword. Reversing her grip, she spun her dual-bladed weapon and deflected to strikes coming at her back, then whirled around and planted her petite foot into a Seraph's mouth with enough force to blow the back of his skull off. She could see more Seraph Guard and more Swords of Retribution arriving, dozens now, but still didn't feel outnumbered.

Splitting her weapon in two once more, she became a whirlwind of death, diving, spinning, twirling and slashing, leaving blood, guts, and falling bodies in her wake. Snapping her arms out to the sides, she punched the blades through the faces of two Swords before throwing herself at a Seraph and ripping her throat out with her teeth. With barely a thought her blades reappeared in her hands and she slashed a Sword in half from crotch to crown. She'd managed to literally shred another Sword's guts when a powerful blast of light energy slammed into her and sent her shooting to the ground, where she created a small crater.

Getting back to her feet, she shook her head and screeched in fury, the sound being _felt_ as well as heard. Coming to a landing on the ground in front of and above her was Archguardian Toln, his great stone broadsword held ready.

"I do not know how you gained this realm, foul creature, but I can assure you I shall be sending you out," he said. She started giggling, then chuckling, and finally gave in to full-out insanely hysterical laughter.

"I . . . came in through . . . the front door!" she managed to get out, before dissolving into laughter again. After a few moments, she managed to get herself under control. "I did, too. See, I'm the dark, dirty secret of your 'loyal' Archguardian Pyra. Surely you recognize me, Toln. You guided me through my training as a Sword. As I recall, you said I was the most promising Sword since the Grand Archguardian eons ago."

"You cannot be Sera!"

"Oh, but I can! See, Pyra was my mother . . . but my _father_ was General Kalsh Treshkar. The last of the drayvern."

"By the Light," Toln whispered as the realizations hit him.

"Now, I'm through talking," she said. Then she launched herself at him with phenomenal speed. His sword was already sweeping in to block her strike. He may not have been as fast as she was, but he had fought her father blade to blade and knew that anticipation was the key. Even so, he was unprepared for her fury. She was attacking, constantly attacking, with no break or pause to her motions. She _was_ fury incarnate, but she was also _calculating_; she didn't react or attack unthinkingly. It was one of the things that made drayverns so much more dangerous than demons. Fortunately for him, her hybrid nature – being the offspring of a drayvern and an angel – prevented her from changing into her natural form. _Or she hasn't learned how yet_, he thought.

She slashed her scimitars in, one high and one low, and he used his sword's great length to block both simultaneously, then ducked under the blast of hellfire she unleashed. He swung his sword in a level swing, then reversed it and drew it straight up as Ares dodged it. Arching her back allowed her to flip over the strike, while a quick flip had him just barely avoiding her hellblasts. He recognized the moves, of course, even though the weapon of choice was different; Sera often preferred this style of fighting. And he knew a quick counter; building energy quickly, he channeled into his hand – and fired it into the ground. It had the twin effects of shooting him into the air, and creating an obscuring dust cloud. He watched as she teleported out of the way and sought him out; but she'd gone _up_ to find him.

"Wrong move," he said. She looked up in time to bring her scimitars into an X-block, but not in enough time to avoid his strike or counter it. The stone great sword slammed into her crossed blades, his momentum and power driving her straight down back into the ground. If anything, the crater and dust cloud this time was even bigger than before. When it cleared, Toln was standing with his sword in one hand while Ares/Sera was on the ground, bruised, battered, and more than a little bloody. Coughing, she rolled onto her stomach and got to her hands and knees. "Yield," the archguardian said.

"Never," she growled.

"So be it," he replied, a little sadly. Gripping the handle in both hands, he raised his weapon for a final strike and began murmuring a benediction for her soul. Meanwhile, she was panting, trying to find some energy – any energy – to strike back with. But she had nothing left.

**You're wrong about that, Ares.**

_You? Seriously? Now?_

**We don't have time, and you want to argue?**

_Alright, alright, I'm sorry. So, where's this extra energy?_

**Me.**

_Whoa, hold on there. Do you know what that could do to you? To us?_

**It could conceivably obliterate me, though you would be spared.**

_Why would you risk something like that?_

**Because Raven is more important than our lives, than my existence.**

_I don't like this._

**I'm not asking you to like it. I'm telling you to do it. Besides, there is a good side to this.**

_What?_

**It could merge us together into one being. We would no longer be trapped in a dual existence, no longer subject to Mother's whims.**

_Let's do it. But if we die, I'm killing you._

**Deal.**

Ares took a deep breath, and reached for Sera's energy – right as Toln swung his sword down. There was a flash of unbelievable light, with a massive release of energy. It knocked anyone within twenty feet flying twice that away. When the flash cleared and everyone recovered, what they saw was more frightening than anything they'd seen before. Even Toln was stunned into immobility. There, on one knee in the crater, was an abomination. She had the same faintly bluish pale skin as a drayvern and the blue-and-white hair of her angel side. She wore the same pants Sera did, with Ares's top. The colors were blue and black. In her hand was a single, elegant blade. Its cutting edge recurved along the bottom of the blade, forming a hook. Yet the blade itself was long and as thin as a katana. When she opened her eyes, Toln received the shock of his life: her left eye was metallic gold, while her right eye was the sinister coloration of a drayvern. Then she spread her wings, revealing a further affront to his senses: her right wing was angelic, while her left wing was draconic.

"Time to die, you bastardized son of a bitch," she growled. Setting her blade so it angled out and down to her left, she shifted her left hand to its guard while placing her right hand on the pommel. She moved her right leg forward and slightly bent the knee. When she pushed off, the ground behind her literally exploded with the force she exerted. Toln spun his sword around, and wondered if he would be fast enough. There was a flash, an explosive sound and the two warriors were standing on opposite sides of each other, their backs facing one another. For a moment, no one and nothing moved. Then the forward half of Toln's blade impacted the ground tip first, and the archguardian slid forward to the ground – at least, from the waist-up he did. Standing up, the true hybrid looked around.

"My name is Sera Treshkar sei Areus," she said. Her grip on her hilt tightened. "Anybody else want to give me a try?"

"That'll be enough, child," said an ancient voice. Turning around, she saw the Grand Archguardian himself stepping out of a portal.

"You're the one who actually killed my father," she said.

"Indeed I am, though Toln and Nont also played significantly in that tragedy."

"I want your blood," Sera said.

"You can have it," he replied, stunning her and everyone witnessing.

"You'll _let_ me kill you?"

"Yes."

"You're the most powerful person here."

"That would be you, Sera Treshkar sei Areus. As powerful and skilled as I am, with the experience of an eon or more, I cannot compete against you now. Your mother is just as powerful as I, and your father was somewhat beyond us. Why do you think it took seven archguardians to bring him down?"

"Why?"

"Because I have lived a long, long time. I have seen many births, many deaths, and uncountable bloodshed. We have lost our way. Your father's death was, perhaps, the greatest tragedy I've seen. She defeated all of us, killing one of us with ease. Yet she never assumed her true form. A form I'd seen only in my father's journals. In the end, she'd had enough. She was simply tired of living as the last of his kind. She asked me to grant her mercy, to end her suffering. I could tell that she had found someone she loved a great deal, yet being the last of his entire civilization had finally worn away at her. I'd like to think that had she known of your conception she would have chosen to live."

"You granted her that mercy," Sera said quietly.

"I did. No greater sorrow have I ever felt than at that one moment when my preferred blade, a saber-like long sword, bit through her neck with hardly a whisper. Since that day, I have never raised a weapon. If it is vengeance for your father's death that you seek, kill no more. Let my death be the last one you take on that road."

"You ended my father's life, and it _was_ vengeance that I sought. But it was a vengeance that wasn't mine. My mother, Pyra, was the one who wanted revenge for Kalsh's death." She turned and looked away from the Hall of Council, towards the city itself and beyond. She closed her eyes and sought out a specific aura, one that didn't belong to this dimension. She found it, though it was faint.

"There is but one more death to be brought about," she said after the silence. "But it is not yours, Grandfather." Then she teleported away.

Pyra's personal guard was waiting for her. Female Seraph Guard, though she called them the Valkyrie, stood against her in great numbers. They would have been insurmountable to either Sera or Ares; but to Sera Treshkar sei Areus, they naught but a minor distraction. Her mother was where she had expected her to be, in her castle's grand chamber. Seated upon an ornate chair crafted from black blitzstone, it cast her in a dark and sinister aspect, completely at odds with the white marble of the room. To one side of the throne was a torture wheel, with Raven strapped to its center. Her mother had been expecting her to come in carried by her Valkyrie; she hadn't expected her to walk in as she was.

"What _are_ you?" she asked.

"What you have forced me to become," Sera replied. "To save my life and to rescue my beloved, I had to bring both sides of me together. I have achieved a peace I've never felt as either one."

"You've failed," Pyra said angrily. "You had one reason to exist, and you failed to fulfill it!"

"My being alive is reason enough to exist," she returned. She looked pointedly looked at where Raven hung. "She is reason enough to die." She returned her baleful look to her mother. "You may have given birth to me, but I no longer recognize you as my mother, Pyra, if I ever thought of you that way."

"You won't kill me. It's part of the geas I've put on you."

"You put that upon Sera and Ares. I am Sera Treshkar sei Areus, and am not bound by your foolish curses."

"Then there's no reason keep _her_ alive," Pyra replied mildly, then stabbed Raven through the gut with a wickedly barbed sword. The half-demon screamed as the pain-inducing barbs on the blade slid into her, a scream that was echoed by her beloved. She rushed to the now-dying girl, only to be battered aside by a vicious backhand.

"You may be powerful, you may be a monstrosity," Pyra said, "but you are _still_ young! I have over two millennia of experience in combat! You barely have nine centuries!" She threw back her head and laughed. "And you think you can defeat me?"

"No, I don't think so," Sera said, picking herself off the floor. "I _know_ so. And who is truly the monstrosity here?" Then she launched herself at the angel, fighting not for her own life but for her beloved's. She brought her blade in with an overhand strike, the blade moving so fast it was nearly invisible. Pyra blocked it and attempted to catch it with her own blade's barbs, so she could snap-roll it away. But the recurve of Sera's blade prevented that from working. Pyra grunted and was knocked back by Sera sinking her foot into her mother's gut. She had barely recovered and set herself when her (to her) traitorous daughter came at her, the fury in her blood practically singing aloud. She found herself hard-pressed to defend against the combinations of punches, kicks, and sword strikes; though an accomplished fighter, she had never trained to utilize hand-to-hand techniques with melee weapons.

Sera was alive with fury and rage; but rather than cloud her vision or make her sloppy, they instead served to sharpen her vision and reflexes. Pyra may have had an unbelievable amount of experience in fighting, but Sera had her drayvern heritage of instinctive fighting. Plus, Pyra was fighting for herself and her revenge while Sera was fighting for the woman she loved. Their battle had taken them all over the grand chamber, and the sound of their blades clashing was like a musical symphony of death. An orchestral conduction that would only end.

And Sera could feel Raven's life force fading fast.

Screaming with fury at her impending loss, she pirouetted in a vicious circle, her sword swinging with every ounce of strength, fury, and power she possessed. It sheered right through Pyra's evil blade and took of the woman's arm, though she had dodged fast enough to avoid a decapitating blow. Sprawling onto the floor, she began scuttling backwards as fast as she could, watching as the woman before her vanished her sword and stalked towards her. She backed into the base of her throne and looked back for a split second; but that was enough for Sera to close the distance. Grabbing her mother by her throat, she lifted her into the air.

"The right thing to do, the 'angelic' thing to do, would be to turn you over to the Grand Archguardian," she said, loosening her grip slightly. Pyra felt a moment's relief. "But I'm not inclined to be angelic right now." As her mother's eyes widened in horror, she sent an overwhelming amount angel hellfire into her body, causing it to explode. Then she rushed over and slashed Raven's bonds with her hands, catching her before she could fall far. Dropping back and falling to her ass, she cradled her beloved in her arms, her eyes roving over the naked woman's battered and tortured body.

"Oh, my love," she whispered, stroking her cooling cheeks. "How could I have come so late?"

Coughing heavily, Raven faintly replied, "That you came . . . at all is worth . . . the wait."

Smiling, tears falling down her cheeks, she leaned down and kissed her on the lips. "I don't want you to leave me, even as I feel your soul slipping away bit by bit."

"You look so beautiful now," the gray woman said.

"Sera and Ares are gone, though. I am Sera Treshkar sei Areus."

"Your name doesn't matter . . . you're still the same . . . on the inside."

"Don't speak. I'll . . . I'll heal you. With a kiss. Just like before."

"It's . . . it's too late for that . . . my love."

"No! No! It _can't_ be too late, it just _can't_!"

"I wish I could . . . take away . . . your tears," Raven replied, her voice growing weaker. She reached up a shaking hand to brush Sera's cheeks, but didn't have the strength to do it. But Sera caught her hand and held it to her cheek.

"Oh, by the goddess and the Light, don't leave me!"

"I . . . love . . . you . . ." Raven said, the last word trailing off as consciousness and life left her. The moment she felt Raven's aura vanish, Sera let out a wail of soul-wrenching sorrow and pain, a sound that was heard all the way to the Hall of Council, where the Grand Archguardian still stood in the courtyard. He bowed his head, tears streaming unashamedly down his face. To be so close to a lifetime of love and joy, only to have it snatched away by the cruel hand of selfish vengeance.

"I will not allow this to happen," he said softly. One of the surviving archguardians, Lausk, stepped closer.

"My lord?" she asked.

"Know that Sera Treshkar sei Areus is my chosen successor," he said. "For in her there will be balance between light and dark, life and death, good and evil." He looked over at his oldest friend. "It is within my power to take away the pain she is now suffering. The pain that I have caused her, through my daughter's vengeful quest, is not what she deserves."

"Oiram, you cannot mean to do it!"

"No greater love is there than for one person to lay down their life for another. For all that she is now, she will always be my granddaughter. See that she uses her power wisely, for there is a shroud of darkness shadowing us. Things are not over." Placing one hand upon his heart, he extended the other towards Pyra's castle, where a tortured soul mourned the loss of her truest love.

The first hint that Sera had of anything changing was a warmth in the air. But she paid no attention to it at first. It wasn't until she felt the tingling of energy washing over her that she realized something was happening. Looking down at her beloved's body, she was startled to see it glowing. She had no idea what happened to mortals upon their soul's departure from their bodies, but she doubted what was going on now was normal. The glow became brighter and brighter, forcing her to squint and then close her eyes as it became too bright. With a flash of light and a crack of thunder, it was over. Blinking her eyes for several unbearably long moments, Sera managed to clear her vision enough to look down – and gasp.

Raven's wounds had been healed, her scars removed. Even the missing fingers and ear had been restored.

"What . . ." was all she had time to say before Raven's eyes snapped open. Looking up at her beloved, she smiled. Sera watched as the younger woman's eyes changed from their normal violet to a metallic gold.

"What happened?" Raven asked.

"You came back to me," Sera asked, smiling, tears of unimaginable joy running down her face.

**E/N:** Okay, okay, it's a little cliché, but c'mon! It works! And like the Grand Archguardian said, this isn't over, for there is still a shroud of darkness on the horizon.


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** Teen Titans and all associated characters and places are the property of DC. The characters of Sera and Ares are my OCs. Rated M.

**A/N:** This story – and, hopefully, series – will probably be darker than my Titans Forever series. Though admittedly TF had its dark moments. The Shroud of Darkness series, on the other hand, is going (like I said) to more than likely be darker overall. However it becomes (or turns out), I hope y'all will like it. Oh, and I am sorry if this story offends anyone.

**A/N 2:** The 'angels' and 'demons' in this story aren't heavenly or hellish entities per se; that's just the closest way to describe them. They're other-dimensional beings.

**Shroud of Darkness** **Book 1: Sera**

**Chapter 8: The Shroud of Darkness**

"So, um, what's up with the new look?" Raven asked as she sat up. She didn't remember what happened between when she closed her eyes and when she opened them again. It hadn't been that long, really, yet it had felt like a lifetime.

"Oh, um, yeah," Sera said, blushing a little. "I . . . well, I was in a fight with one of the archguardians - they're the leaders of us 'angels' - and reached my limit. I was Ares, then, having 'changed' willingly. And . . . and Sera offered a fusion of the two of them, of the two halves. I'm the result: Sera Treshkar sei Areus. I remember everything from when I was divided."

"I always knew you would come for me," Raven told her, leaning forward and kissing her. Sera returned the kiss with fervor. The gray-skinned woman felt her mind go blank. When they stopped kissing, it took her a moment to get her brain working again. "Wow," was all she could say. Her love chuckled.

"Sorry," she said. "It's just that . . . well, I watched you _die_, and it felt like everything in me had been ripped out." She smiled as tears came to her eyes. "And then you came _back_, back to me."

"Your mother-"

"That bitch was never my mother."

"-tortured me pretty badly. I didn't know why, at first. Then she told me she blamed me for your actions, for you derailing her revenge."

"I wish I could say it was all over, my love, but it's only just beginning."

"So, what happened? If I was dead, then how am I back? Not that I'm arguing with the situation."

"That's something I don't know," Sera admitted. "The Grand Archguardian would know."

"I'm afraid he isn't in a position to speak, though I have the explanation," someone said from behind them. Sera snapped to her feet instantly and whirled around, her recurved katana shimmering into her hands. The angel took a step back and held up her hands - her _empty_ hands.

"Peace, Sera Treshkar sei Areus," said Lausk. "I would not harm you at all, even if you weren't the new Grand Archguardian." That announcement drew immediate attention.

"But what happened to-"

"How do you think your beloved returned to you?"

"No," Sera breathed. "Oh, by the Light, no."

"What, Sera?" Raven asked. "What is it?"

"The Grand Archguardian sacrificed his life for yours, Raven," Lausk explained. "He performed a Soul Exhcange. It's a rare and fatal technique whereby one can sacrifice their soul for another's. It's . . . well, it's only used when one of the souls involved has passed on."

"So you're saying that your overall leader switched places with me?" the gray-skinned woman asked.

"Basically, yes." Lausk held up a hand to quell any remarks. "It was his choice. As was the decision for you to become the new Grand Archguardian, Sera. He felt that you would be best suited to lead us against what is to come."

"What do you mean?" the hybrid asked.

"Why you should lead us or what's coming?"

"Let's start with the first one."

"Because of what you are now. We regard ourselves as followers of the Light, guardians and protectors of order. The drayvern could be thought to have been our opposites."

"I thought that that would be these . . . 'demons,'" Raven put in.

"On the surface, that would be accurate. Idealogically, they are. But as far as keeping a balance between order and chaos, peace and war, tranquility and aggression, no. The demons seek to dominate and replace one order with another. So they're enemies but not critical to the balance of the universes, the dimensions. Sera, because she is the offspring of an 'angel' and a drayvern, personifies the balance that the previous Grand Archguardian strove for. Drayverns are, essentially, chaos incarnate. Their very presence destablizes things, causes order to collapse and be replaced by chaos. On the surface, chaos seems bad. But a balance between chaos and order is _essential_ to a functioning universal continuum."

"So you're saying that wiping out the drayverns millennia ago was a . . . _bad_ decision?" Sera asked sweetly.

"Okay, I'll admit I had that sarcasm coming," Lausk said. "The consequences of that decision, of those actions, are only now being felt."

"How bad will it be?"

"Every single dimension could collapse. But not all at once. Think of it as a . . . how do you say in your dimension, Miss Raven?"

"Domino effect?" Raven suggested, a little confused.

"That describes it perfectly, if I understand the phrase correctly. Wiping out the drayverns collapsed one dimension already. It no longer exists. _That_ destablized the dimensions around it. Two of them collapsed a millennia later. And it's still happening."

"Are you saying that everything's just . . . ceasing to exist?" Sera asked.

"That's how it sounds, but I fear something far worse is actually happening."

"What could be worse than the collapse of . . . of everything?" the raven-haired woman asked.

"There is something there, at the center of this dimensional collapse, that is . . . _absorbing_ the dimensions. It's building power and strength. We don't know what it is, if it's anything at all, but there _is_ something there."

"How do you that?" the hybrid asked. Lausk unfolded her wings, and both women gasped. The angel's wings were blackened but not burned, as though they had been touched or colored by something dark and malevolent.

"Because I found out for myself, on the request of my oldest friend, the Grand Archguardian," she replied quietly. "It changed me, made me less - or, looking at you, perhaps more - than I was. It is why I am a moderating influence on the council, why none have seen me 'in action' for over two thousand years. I wasn't the only one affected, either."

"What do you mean?" Raven asked.

"Sera, do you remember my 'daughter?'"

"Vasilia Corday?"

"Yes."

"Yeah. What about her?"

"You'll recall that she wasn't born as one of us, but came to us through means that you'll learn about in time."

"She did seem to appear rather suddenly."

"What happened to me affected her, as well, because of how close we were. It . . . it was part of the reason your mother banished her to Heltara."

"Damn," the blue/white-haired woman breathed. "And you're saying that stopping all of this is now _my_ responsibility."

"Yes. Your grandfather gave his life in exchange for that of your beloved's. His sacrifice was a gift to the granddaughter he didn't realize he had, and also a statement of faith in you."

"Faith in me? For what?"

"That you would be able to restore balance to the pan-dimensional reality. No one can undo what has happened and what is happening now. It can only be repaired, fixed, restored."

"So what's up with my golden eyes?" Raven asked.

"You bear some of his power," Lausk told her, stunning them both.

"Say what?"

"Sera, as powerful as she is, won't be able to do this alone. And you didn't have enough power to help her. So he gave you as much of his that you could handle. Your eyes won't be the only thing to change. Other changes will come as you come into your newfound power. I don't know what they will be, as something like this has only been theoretical as far as other races from other dimensions go."

"The two of us won't be enough," Sera said, interrupting. "Not if this 'shroud' has been growing as you say."

"You have the entirety of the serangel people at your command, m'lady."

"That won't be enough, either. Not in terms of power and ability. I need a relatively small team, and I don't think I can find them in this dimension or in my beloved's home dimension."

"Then where-. No. You can't be thinking about that, Sera."

"What is she talking about?" Raven asked.

"I'm . . . no, _we_ are going to have to go to other dimensions and recruit others similar to us. And I know where we're going to start looking." Sera looked at Lausk. "Just which dimension was Vasilia banished to when Heltara kicked her out?"

Sera and Raven didn't waste any time. The hybrid portaled them back to Raven's dimension, where they ran into her team. Their appearances threw back the other four Titans, and for a moment none of them could speak. Raven spoke into the silence to preempt any words from them.

"It'll take too long to explain what's happened with us," she said, "but trust me when I say that our story is nothing compared to what's going on."

"What do you mean, Rae?" Cyborg asked.

"You all know that Sera comes from another dimension, right?" she asked. When they nodded, she went on. "Well, there are, of course, vastly more dimensions than just hers and ours. There are dimensions that are alternate realities, others that are different planes of existence with creatures that defy our 'rational' thoughts, and so on. And every single one of them is in danger."

"Danger from what?" Robin wanted to know.

"Something that is threatening to consume all of reality," Sera answered. "We don't know what is, exactly. And you can't help. It's not because we don't need it, but that you don't have the power or skill to help us. What you _can_ do is prepare as many of your Titans as you can to help if things start going 'haywire' in this dimension. There'll probably be more demon attacks as the barriers between dimensions weaken. Maybe some other things coming through, too."

"What are you and Raven going to do?" Starfire asked, concerned.

"We're going to go build a team. From different dimensions."

**E/N:** And that's the end. I know this isn't a long chapter, and it wasn't really meant to be. Kigo4evR's story, **Shroud of Darkness 2: Emma** is the next one in the **Shroud of Darkness** saga. I am accepting 'submissions' in the SoD 'verse, but only a limited number for obvious reasons. I have decided to make 5 spots available now - 6 if y'all take into account Kigo4evR's story, seven if you factor in mine. Talon (aka Magic Basher54986) has requested one spot, so that means 4 are left. They don't have to be Raven/OC fics; they could be OC/OC fics, or OC/other Teen Titan fics. But I would request that they be Teen Titan fics. And the OC doesn't have to be an angel. That said, I hope everyone liked **Shroud of Darkness 1: Sera**.

There are now 3 spots left, as DarkDarsi has been given a spot.

Two spots now remain, as Piece Bot has requested to do an SoD story.


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